Duels, Fools and Yule
by Catnipob
Summary: A duelling competition causes some unexpected happenings at Hogwarts. D/G, set in Draco's last year. AU but some info from all of the books may well be peppered throughout. And yes, there will be some Christmas cheer.
1. Quarterfinals

**A while back I had a dream about one of my old school friends sitting waiting in Hogwarts and then other characters started appearing in the dream too. When I woke up I realised that a small part of the dream reminded me slightly of a very old 'teen horror' type book I've had for years called horrorscope, the main character (Robyn) writes the schools horoscopes under a pseudonym. So that's why I used her name (but that's about it – the plot's not similar at all– as of yet anyway!)**

**Anyway, the dream was quite cool so I thought I'd just jot it down quickly – before I'd realised it I'd written enough for half a chapter and hadn't got close to the end of my dream. So I figured, if I'd gone to that much detail I might as well make a decent chapter out of it... but I couldn't just leave it at the end of my dream as it would be like a peek into a story with no conclusion. **

**I know I should be working on Ferrets and Weasels (and I am - just slowly, I'm having a bit of a block with Severus at the mo and he's featuring heavily in the next chapter. I pick it up, write a few words and then get fed up and walk away!)  
****Anyway - I thought I might as well do this while I wait for my brian to work properly again!**

**I'm going to elaborate on my dream and try and turn this into a full story! It won't be cannon at all (which unnerves me somewhat!) but I will take a few bits of the stories where I think they may be appropriate.**

**Wish me luck!**

**As should be obvious by now (!) none of the H.P characters or anything else you recognise is mine! Maria, Chloe, and the (ha ha) fictional Jonathan and Matthew are.**

* * *

Ginny walked quickly through the dark, deserted corridor. She reached her destination and gently opened the door in front of her. She was forced to raise her hand in front of her freckled face for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the sudden glare of sunlight. Maybe she wasn't so late after all; the heavy brocade curtains were still pulled back from the grand windows, meaning there were a good few minutes before everything would start. Accustomed now to the brightness, Ginny gazed lovingly at the way that the sunlight beamed through the panes and highlighted the motes gently floating in the crisp November breeze.

Stepping into the room and onto the beautifully polished wooden floor, Ginny had to squeeze past a nervous group of first years who were trying to find any seats left in the duelling room. She smiled briefly, remembering how anxious she had been as a new first year, worried about fitting in and being one of the crowd.  
The room was certainly packed; a large raised platform had been erected in the centre and rows of layered benches that had been set up around three sides of the room were heaving with noisy students.

She spotted her friend Maria, who was waving wildly at her from a secluded row of benches near the top tiers which afforded them a very good view. Ginny nodded her head quickly and started to make her way up to the seat that Maria had saved for her. She found it difficult to wind her way through the thin aisle which lead between the rows, because people kept leaning from one bench to another to gossip about today's round of the competition. Annoyingly, she felt sure that a couple of the boys in the audience moved in front of her on purpose; she was just as sure that Maria would be keen to point out why they were doing so - _if _Ginny ever managed to reach her through the crowd.

The petite redhead knew that she had certainly blossomed over the summer and although she had never had to beg for a boyfriend before, her new found assets (and the fact that her brother's attention was focused elsewhere this year) meant that she was now almost inundated with requests for dates. She had also been sent a few cards and a box of chocolates – which had been passed on to her good humoured dorm mates.

But however many notes and gifts were owled to her, Ginny resolutely refused to believe Maria's claim that she was now one of the most attractive girls in their year, maybe in Hogwarts itself.  
Every time her bubbly friend brought the subject up; Ginny would remind her about all those horrid freckles covering her otherwise plain face, and her ginger hair which was long and childish (thanks to her mother's refusal to have it cut). Ginny also pointed out that she was too short (as was her fuse) and that her clothes were old, second hand and getting a bit tight - meaning that in anything other than her robes, her very large behind was most painfully on display for everyone to laugh at.

What Maria saw however, was someone who - while not breathtakingly stunning - was very pretty in a fresh faced, girl next door way. The cinnamon dusting of freckles across her nose, cheeks and forehead, combined with the permanent flush to her cheeks, simply added to her innocent allure.  
Her hair was thick and healthy, it was a pleasant coppery shade with lots of lovely gold and red streaked naturally through it and was always clean. When Ginny didn't have it scraped back in an effort to hide it away, it fell around her face like a fiery mane.  
Maria felt sure that with a peachy bottom like Ginny's (especially when poured into her faded hand-me-down jeans), the boys would be happy to overlook a few patched robes and threadbare jumpers. And as for being short... well Maria, with her Amazonian frame, felt that it would be nice not to tower over any potential suitors.

Regardless of how many times the girls argued over the matter, Ginny still knew that she was certainly not the most sought after among the boys. This was partly due to her fiery temper but mainly because in the couple of months since term started Ginny had turned down 100 percent of the offers she had received – all very politely of course. Despite this, a few of her admirers wouldn't give up the idea that she was just playing hard to get, and were convinced they could do something to win her over.

Eventually Ginny made her way to where Maria was sitting; Ginny noticed for the first time that there was someone sitting in between Maria and the spare seat. She vaguely recognised the girl with her black curly hair, plump face and dark eyes framed and enlarged by thick glasses. Ginny then remembered Maria mentioning that her cousin was joining Hogwarts as a transfer student for the year, and smiled at the girl in what she hoped was a welcoming way.

Before any of the girls could say anything to each other, Professor McGonagall entered from a small door at the back of the room. "Quiet down now please… Quiet." She said loudly.

Once she had everyone's attention she continued. "Thank you. Now, as you are probably aware from last week's events, we have reached the quarter-finals of our tournaments and have whittled down the competitors by quite some number. So, instead of splitting each year's final three heats, we will be amalgamating them to one triple length session a fortnight. The Fifth year competitors will go first, then the Sixth years and finally the Seventh years. Any questions? Good."

McGonagall stepped back through the door and ushered out the eight Fifth years that had managed to win each of their duels so far. Ginny looked eagerly to see if she recognised any of the people remaining; As the competition had been so vast until this point, the trials had been held in different areas of the school and so students had only been able to see some of the heats, making it difficult to keep up with who had beaten whom.

As Ginny didn't recognise any of the final eight, she would have to wait for the battered old sorting hat to announce their names. She thought it was nice that the hat could be used for more than just the sorting ceremonies; currently it was being placed on the heads of each of the competitors and then it would set them into four pairs of opponents according to the best matched couples. That meant that there were never one-sided fights and lessened the likelihood of terrible accidents which happened when a much weaker dueller couldn't counter a curse sent by a strong opponent.  
However, Ginny had a sneaking suspicion that the hat was saving the best matches for the final – it always did have a flair for theatrics.

The time passed quickly for Ginny; it was late on in the competition so all the students left in the running were very skilled for their year, which made for an interesting afternoon. But it still seemed quite a while until the sixth years had finished and the floor to ceiling curtains were once again pulled back. Then the event that Ginny had been waiting for was announced – the Seventh year duels.

She knew deep down that she should probably find her own year's trials more exciting, but the Seventh years had learned spells which were leaps and bounds above anything the normal Sixth year would know. Plus, she had better friends competing in the top year; most of Ginny's friends from her own year weren't very interested in duelling, but they were curious as to why she hadn't entered.

Only a few of her closest friends knew why, Ginny had felt it unfair to enter knowing full well that her experiences had meant that she knew and could execute spells and hexes as well as some of the final contenders in the seventh year. That and having six older brothers meant that she had a tendency to play dirty and she didn't feel it right to unleash that on some of her fellow Sixth year students... Well, maybe a few of the Slytherins and an occasional ex-boyfriend but none of them would have gone far enough in the competition to challenge her.

McGonagall disappeared through the doorway briefly and when she returned, sorting hat once more in hand, the crowd gave its largest cheer yet. Ginny thought that maybe she wasn't the only one to be excited about this round.

Following Professor McGonagall were the Seventh year contenders, they walked slowly through the door and up the stairs to the stage one by one as if on a parade, which Ginny supposed they were really.

Harry Potter, Ginny's one time crush, came first; he looked slightly tense but otherwise the same as ever, with his shock of black hair and trademark dark framed glasses. Ginny knew that he hadn't really wanted to enter, but it counted towards their house points and Dumbledore had thought that it would be a good idea for Harry to show people how good he was at duelling. The Headmaster had said it would help alleviate their fears about how a young boy was meant to overcome such a powerful wizard as Voldemort.

Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend and Ginny's older brother followed; he shared Ginny's ginger hair and freckled skin but where Ginny was small, Ron towered above most of his other class mates. Ginny was pleased that he had made it so far (obviously duelling ran in the Weasley blood) although she thought that it couldn't hurt to have Harry to practise with.  
Or Hermione Granger for that matter, the smartest witch at Hogwarts, who trailed out after the two boys looking very nervous. She had tamed her bushy hair back into a tight bun and was muttering to herself, Ginny guessed that she was making sure she had enough spells memorised.

The next person to walk through the door caused murmurs to spring up around the room; Neville Longbottom had certainly surprised everyone by making it so far in the competition. In the last round people had said that he seemed overly nervous and clumsy, yet at just the right time he had performed an extremely tricky spell which caused several tentacle-like plants to spring from the end of his wand and snatch his opponent's wand right from their hand.  
Neville was gazing with wide eyes and an open mouth at the vast number of people filling the duelling room; his eyes briefly fell upon Ginny, easy to spot with her shining copper hair, and he gave her a small worried smile. Ginny beamed at him and gave him two thumbs up, she had always liked Neville and they shared a strange friendship that benefited them both greatly.

Ginny wasn't as familiar with the fifth and sixth people to enter, although she knew them well enough through various associations. Anthony Goldstein was a Ravenclaw student who had been friends with her ex boyfriend Michael Corner. She hoped that Anthony was a better loser than Michael had been as, skilled in duelling as he was, Ginny doubted that he would get to the final.

Zacharias Smith, who came through just after Anthony, looked smug despite the lack of cheers from even his fellow Hufflepuffs. Ginny, like many people, did not like Zacharias at all and she hoped that his smug look would be wiped from his face this round.

The penultimate contestant came out looking perfectly preened and not in the slightest bit nervous. Tossing her dark, silky hair artfully over her shoulder, the Slytherin Pansy Parkinson pouted and made eyes at as many of the boys in the audience as she could; she strutted towards the group of waiting duellers as if she were posing on a catwalk. Her tailored robes had been undone just enough to show off the hem of her skirt, which was definitely much shorter than the recommended length and probably very unsuitable for duelling in. (Hermione had, Ginny knew, made the decision to wear her gym shorts underneath her skirt, just in case.)

Last of all came a tall pale boy who walked as though he owned the school. Sighs came from a good many of the girls in the audience but he did not flirt with the crowd as his fellow Slytherin had; instead he was calm and cool and seemed as though he didn't care who was watching him.

"Draco Malfoy…" Maria said with a sly look on her face. She leaned right over her cousin and said quietly to Ginny, "I wonder if he duels as well as you write he does?"

Ginny shot Maria an incredulous look and then frowned, shooting her eyes meaningfully towards the poor girl now squashed under Maria's considerable assets.

Maria looked confused for a moment and then her face gained a look of understanding. "Oh… don't worry about Chloe; she can keep a secret better than I can!"

Ginny pulled a face at Maria, "Well that's not very difficult is it? You weren't meant to say _anything_"

Chloe also looked a little confused and Ginny could now see the resemblance to Maria who was looking at her apologetically. "Sorry Ginny, you know loads of the girls read your stuff; sometimes I forget that they don't know it's you that's writing it."

Ginny grimaced again and let out an exasperated sigh. She was hoping that Maria's first slip up could have been covered by a simple excuse but now she'd gone too far. Ginny was just glad that at least their seats were set slightly away from the main crowd and that no-one bar the three of them could hear the conversation over the cat-calls from the crowd anyway.

Ginny guessed she would have to come clean and swear Chloe to secrecy, but Maria got there first.  
"You know _'Robyn's Tale_?" She said to Chloe eagerly, continuing quickly before Cher cousin had a chance to respond. "Well Ginny is the person behind it!" Maria finished triumphantly.

Chloe noticed the expectant look on Maria's face and had to shrug remorsefully. "I'm really sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh that doesn't matter then." Ginny said quickly, very relieved (but secretly ever so slightly disappointed) by Chloe's lack of knowledge. "You don't have to worry; it's all very boring anyway. Forget Maria said anything…"

Maria's jaw had dropped for a second but she soon regained her excited demeanour and totally contradicted Ginny. "Of course, you're new. Oh you just wait! Let me explain"

Maria checked that the sorting hat was still busy mulling over who to match together; satisfied she had a few minutes she settled back and said in a quiet story telling style of voice. "A week or so after term started this year, one of the first years found a roll of parchment in the library. Pince – she's the librarian – saw the girl reading it with a friend and thought that they were writing notes or something. Well, she went to tell them off but the girl said that she'd found the paper and was trying to figure out if it belonged to anyone."

Maria stopped suddenly when it seemed something of a commotion was occurring on the stage, but it turned out that it was just McGonagall telling off a fifth year for trying to look up Pansy's skirt and Pansy for encouraging them. Maria continued her narrative a little faster.

"Anyway, Pince put the parchment on the message board outside the library so it could be easily found if it's owner came looking. However… The girl had told a few of her friends about what had happened and exactly what was on the parchment. Soon small groups of girls started to go up and read the parchment, then more people found out and eventually word of it was spreading round the school."

"Well, what was it?" Chloe interrupted, almost bursting with excitement.

"Ah…" replied Maria. "That's why everyone was so intrigued. It was the first chapter of a story, a mysterious romance it seemed – a very interesting tale about a girl called Robyn. Well, half the girls in the school were speculating over it – everyone wanted to know who had written it, mainly so they could find out what happened in the rest of the story.  
Eventually Dumbledore mentioned it at breakfast one morning. He said that he'd noticed many of the students had seemed overly distracted in the last week or so and then … Get this," Maria winked at Chloe and Ginny pressed her fingers over her eyes in embarrassment.

"Dumbledore said _'Perhaps I may suggest that whoever happened to write the first chapter of Robyn's most intriguing story, could manage to lose the next chapter somewhere it can be easily found. Preferably before my students drive themselves balmy with curiosity.'_How cool is that? Dumbledore actually encouraged them to carry on with the story – I reckon he wanted to know what happened too…

"What?" Maria asked, looking at Ginny's shocked face. "Blokes read it too – they just do it when they think no one's going to catch them! Anyway, loads of people say Dumbledore's a fan, Hagrid too - he loves it – nearly cried when… Oh but I shouldn't give the story away."

Chloe looked hesitant for a moment and then said, "So Ginny, you wrote it? Did you leave it there on purpose?"

Maria snorted loudly and again spoke before Ginny had the chance to open her mouth. "Yeah right – you should have seen her; she was in a right panic. When she eventually came clean to me and asked how she could get people to forget about the story, I had to practically force her to 'lose' the next chapter."

Chloe looked at Ginny. "But if it's that good, why didn't you want anyone to see it?"

Finally Ginny got a say in her own story. "It was never meant to be seen by anyone – I was really bored over the summer as… erm, my plans had fallen through so I spent a lot of time sitting out in our gardens by the pond writing; it was silly really, just to entertain myself. When we came back to school, I wanted to carry on writing and finish it but I had a few things that I needed to look up in the library, potions ingredients and stuff – I know it sounds stupid considering no one else except me was meant to read this, but I wanted to get everything right."

Maria butted in. "Ginny's a perfectionist."

"I am not. I just don't see the point in half doing something, it's always going to be better if you do it right… Anyway; I'd been in the library for a while, I'd just finished the first chapter and was going to start on the second when Malfoy and his cronies came in. I didn't want to be bothered by his boring 'no money' jibes as I'd be far too tempted to hex him, which would get me into trouble.  
So I just shoved everything in my bag as quickly as I could and left. I must have either left the parchment behind or dropped it – there were a group of first year girls coming in as I left, it has to be then."

Chloe looked as though she was drinking in every last detail of the story that was unfolding. "So you did post new chapters then?" She asked.

Ginny looked uncomfortable. "Eventually I did -only because Maria threatened to tell a few select gossips that it was me that wrote it. She said it was too good to keep to myself but I think she's talking rubbish."

Maria laughed. "Come on Gin, stop being so modest. You know it's good. Loads of people are hooked on it." Turning to Chloe she murmured. "Ginny or I lose a chapter every now and then, whenever she has one finished. Although it's getting tricky to not be caught - we've been leaving them all over school but people are constantly on the lookout so it's hard avoiding suspicion. You'll be a great help as no one will suspect you, coming in halfway through so to speak! Oooh, they're starting…" she squealed loudly.

Everyone sat up straighter and the general babble quietened down. McGonagall stood tall and held up the battered hat in front of her. The mouth like rip opened up and said in its magical voice;

"A warm welcome to one and all;  
Who have come to see the Seventh year Duel;  
Some competitors are fierce and tough;  
But we shall see if that is enough;  
Bravery, cunning or heart will they need;  
To help them be the one to succeed…"

The hat made a noise which sounded like it was clearing its throat (if even a magical hat could be said to have a throat), it then continued in a more formal tone. "Today's duels will be; Harry Potter versus Zacharias Smith, Hermione Granger versus Pansy Parkinson, Anthony Goldstein versus Neville Longbottom and the final duel will be Draco Malfoy versus Ronald Weasley."

Ginny clamped her hands to her mouth and let out a moan of worry. Maria looked at her in concern, leaned over and patted her knee gently. "Don't worry luv, it'll be ok." She said soothingly.

"What's wrong?" Asked Chloe, looking confused.

"Ronald Weasley is Ginny's brother, and he's just been pitted against the 'evil' Draco Malfoy… Bad boy of year Seven. However I'm sure the sorting hat wouldn't have put them together if it was an uneven match. Ron will be fine…"

"He's quite good looking isn't he?" Chloe said a little shyly.

"Malfoy?" Maria said, "Yeah totally, but you'll have competition if you fancy going there– loads of girls fancy him – and he's totally fussy too… he'd never go for a Gryffindor. Well maybe Ginny." She smirked.

Ginny, shock making her totally forget her worry for Ron, looked at Maria as if she was mad. "What?" she said in a tone that suggested the same thing.

"Well, Matthew is obviously crazy about Robyn." Maria said as if that one sentence would clear up the whole argument.

"Matthew is Jonathan's arch nemesis – why on earth would he want Robyn? She'd never go with him." Ginny spluttered.

Maria smiled in a way that made Ginny feel a little nervous. "That's what's happening on the surface, but a popular theory amongst your readers is that Matthew will actually change his ways because he's fallen for Robyn and she will end up with him rather than Jonathan – who's a bit too noble for his own good."

Ginny gawped at Maria. "They what?? I can't – who…" Realising she was being pulled into a pointless argument Ginny shook her head and said. "Anyway – none of that has anything to do with this. That's fiction and this is real life, I am most definitely _not_Robyn, and no matter how many times you say so, Malfoy is _not_Matthew… Well, ok they're both evil gits but Malfoy is not as suave as Matthew and he is most definitely not drop-dead gorgeous."

"Whatever Gin." Maria muttered, "_I _wouldn't kick 'The Slytherin Sex God' out of bed… In fact I'd drag him into it!"

All the competitors except Harry and Zacharias were asked to leave the stage; McGonagall cast a sonorus charm on the boys so everyone could hear what ever spells they would be intoning, took their robes from them (leaving them in their official duelling kit of a very plain fitted shirt and trousers - neither with pockets that anything could be hidden in) and then led the other competitors to a reserved bench at the front.

Ginny's eyes fell on Draco Malfoy, he had held out his hand to help Pansy down the stairs and in doing so his hair fell back from where it had been covering his eyes. As Professor McGonagall closed the curtains, the last ray of sunlight caught his movement and made his hair gleam as if it were fine strands of gold and platinum. Ginny wondered when he had stopped plastering it back against his scalp; she looked at him properly for once (instead of as a moving target) and had to admit – he was actually kind of handsome... for an evil smirking git of course.

"Sorry," said Chloe, "but I actually meant the other one was nice looking, your brother, Rob did you say?"

"Ron?" Ginny said, tearing her eyes away from Malfoy. She wrinkled her nose slightly and tried to think of Ron as anything other than a big brother. "He's OK I guess… but I have to warn you, he's got something going on with Hermione – the one with the bun down there."

Chloe raised her head to peer through the now darkened room to where Ginny had pointed. "Oh – I see, well she's very pretty. Never mind, there are plenty of boys to go around!" Maria giggled at her cousin's attitude.

The stage suddenly blared into light; as had happened with the other duels, several shining globes were now hovering at each corner of the stage, spotlighting the two remaining boys and casting strange, wavering shadows over the stage and audience.

Harry and Zacharias bowed low to each other and prepared to duel; both boys were taking side-steps and waiting for the other to make the first move. Smith was first to crack, throwing a rather nasty conjunctivitis curse towards Harry; however it was rather a pointless move as it bounced harmlessly off Harry's very well warded glasses.  
Frowning, Zacharias quickly shot a jellylegs jinx which Harry easily defended himself against. Watching carefully, Ginny noticed that Harry didn't seem to be casting any offensive spells and was more interested in defending himself than actually attacking Smith.  
Eventually, when the opportunity arose, Harry fired off a well aimed Expelliarmus which was so simple it caught Zacharias off guard. Smith's wand flew from his hand and nestled itself in Harry's palm.

McGonagall climbed the stops to the stage quickly and held Harry's arm aloft. "The winner… Harry Potter. _Smith_will you please refrain from using such curse words - twenty points from Hufflepuff." She shook her head in annoyance as she led the two boys off stage and, once the cheering had finished, ushered Hermione and Pansy to take their places.

"This should be good!" Ginny said eagerly, leaning forward in her chair. She realised that Chloe wouldn't know what she meant by that and added, "Hermione and Pansy hate each other, Pansy can't stand the fact that Hermione ended up being much prettier than her and Hermione just doesn't like the stuck up, downright rude little cow that Pansy is…"  
She turned to Maria and said with glee. "This isn't common knowledge... yet, but apparently, last week Hermione hit Millicent Bulstrode with a variation of the Duro charm which turned her to stone for an hour – Hermione was panicking so much that she'd get in trouble and that she shouldn't have been so reckless blah, blah, but Ron said that Bulstrode looked like a troll anyway so nobody noticed."

Chloe looked a little shocked at Ginny's extreme excitement at the girl's downfall but Maria explained, "Ginny may look all sweetness and light but deep down she's a bit of a minx... in a good way though! Comes from having Fred and George Weasley as older brothers. You know, the joke shop I took you to? Anyway, Millicent deserved it – she's the school's biggest bully and is constantly picking on Hermione - was anyway from the sounds of things."

Understanding dawned on Chloe's face. "Oh, well after seeing some of the stuff in there, there's no surprise you're a bit fierce. Your brothers are crazy… Nice looking though! I always did have a thing for ginger boys!"

Ginny laughed. "Really? Well you're in luck then – I have lots more brothers and cousins you can lust over!"

Down on the stage, Hermione and Pansy curtsied to each other, although Pansy looked distinctly unhappy about showing any sort of sign of respect to Hermione. Within a second, Hermione had cast the Avis charm which produced a flock of birds from the tip of her wand, she then cried out "Oppugno" which sent the birds winging straight for Pansy. They pecked and scratched at the Slytherin girl, especially her hair.  
The unexpected attack caused Pansy to shriek out loud, drop her wand and flail madly at the birds. Hermione quickly grabbed Pansy's discarded wand and held it up so everyone could see. Ginny could see Ron laughing from the bench; Hermione had cast the same charm on him once, in a fit of jealousy.

"Finite Incantatem." Professor McGonagall said loudly, causing the birds to disappear completely; however very obvious evidence of their attack had been left all over the now dishevelled Parkinson. Ginny could see that Hermione was desperately trying to hide her amusement as the Professor held her arm up and announced her to be the victor. Pansy fled the stage as quickly as she could; ignoring the mocking wolf-whistles she received from the audience.

Next to duel were Neville and Anthony. Both boys looked rather nervous and Ginny thought it would be quite an even match, she didn't want to admit it but she felt that both boys were probably the weakest in the competition so whichever of them won would have a hard time in the next round. Of course she crossed her fingers for Neville to win this duel but she wouldn't have placed a bet on either boy.

The fight started off rather slowly, both Neville and Anthony sent hesitant spells at each other, both only narrowly avoiding each other's hexes. Soon, several of the Slytherin audience members started stretching and faking loud yawns. After a very near miss, Neville intoned a strange spell that Ginny didn't recognise, nothing seemed to happen though and the two boys continued on their slow and careful duel.

Neville kept looking down at Anthony's feet, a move which nearly cost him the match when Anthony sent the Tarantallegra jinx at Neville. Luckily Neville managed to throw up a counter jinx just in time; although he was knocked slightly off balance, he managed to keep his wand and regain his footing.  
Suddenly there was a rumbling from the floor and huge vines burst from the ground and flowed over the stage. Anthony was so shocked he froze completely and just stared wide eyed as the vines bound him up from shoulders to toes, leaving just his head and one hand poking out of the greenery.

Neville walked over to his opponent and plucked the wand from his hand, not before apologising to him though. Ginny grinned, trust Neville to feel sorry for winning. He even managed to look sheepish when Professor McGonagall cheered for him and held up his arm. "Well done Neville!" She had said loudly, obviously having a soft spot for the underdog.

Ginny clenched her fists tightly, the match she was dreading was next. Her brother and Draco Malfoy took the stage, Ron was looking very nervous. Although he had been saying throughout the competition that he would love to have a chance to beat Malfoy, Ginny secretly thought he had been imagining that Harry would be the one facing Malfoy. She hoped Ron's nerves held – he tended to make stupid mistakes when he got nervous.

As soon as Ron and Draco had both bowed (both sneering) to each other, the spells flew hard and fast. Ginny was amazed and slightly terrified at how furiously the two boys seemed to be attacking each other, almost recklessly. She was impressed at how well Ron was doing, he was jinxing and counter-jinxing quite easily and his look of panic had now turned into one of steely determination.

After a very tricky couple of jinxes and hexes sent from either side, it seemed that Ron had his adversary beaten, but suddenly Draco pointed his wand near Ron's feet and called out "Aranortia gargantua."  
A very large, hairy spider appeared at Ron's feet, Ginny could see how big its fangs were from where she sat. "Oh Ron!" she said, worried for her brother. She could vaguely hear Maria explaining to Chloe that Ron had a huge fear of spiders but didn't dare take her eyes off her brother for a second.

Ron was staring very wide eyed at the spider, Ginny could see Draco poise his wand ready for another spell but Ron did something that surprised everyone – instead of finding a spell to destroy or remove the spider (which is what any normal wizard would do), Ron pulled back his leg and kicked it away. His reluctant football games with Dean and Seamus over the summer had certainly paid off, the giant arachnid flew straight towards Malfoy's face.  
Draco paled even more than normal as he leaned sideways to avoid the now very enraged spider; however despite his swerve, it still caught the edge of his right shoulder, throwing him off balance.

Malfoy fell to the floor, still clutching his wand tightly. The spider had rebounded into the crowd next to the stage and many of the girls in that area were screaming and standing on their chairs. Meanwhile, Ron was just about to take advantage of Draco's fall, but just as he opened his mouth to cast, Draco yelled from the floor, "Langlock."  
Many of the students looked confused at the spell but Ginny knew from Harry that this was a spell of Professor Snape's – it meant that Ron's tongue would be effectively glued to the roof of his mouth. "Oh, no – Ron's no good at non-verbal spells." Ginny said desperately to Maria.

Sure enough, as much as Ron pointed his wand at Malfoy, nothing happened. He clenched his fists angrily as Malfoy sprung effortlessly from the floor and seconds later put Ron in a full body-binding curse. Draco cast a Mobilicorpus on Ron so that he floated a few inches off the ground and then took Ron's wand from his hand. Ron's eyeballs were rolling angrily at Malfoy, who smirked arrogantly back at him. When Ginny looked down to her friends, she saw that Hermione was holding Harry's arm very tightly and whispering urgently in his ear.

Quickly, Professor McGonagall (who had just finished getting rid of the rogue spider) joined the two and rather coldly announced Draco the winner. She took the spells off Ron who looked absolutely furious and he stalked off the stage towards Harry and Hermione as soon as he was allowed.

"Now, thank you all for being such a well behaved audience." McGonagall said. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you, but the semi-finals will take place at the same time in a fortnight. Please leave in an orderly fashion – I want no pushing. Remember the poor second year that ended up in the hospital wing."

* * *

**Please excuse my pathetic attempt at a rhyme! I felt it was necessary from the sorting hat but I'm not very good.**


	2. Greenhouses and the three considerations

**_Something screwy's going on with either my laptop or this site... words keep going funny and I'm getting all confused... Here - I hope.. Is my next chapter how it was meant to be... finger's crossed_**

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OK, so I'm back with a second chapter of this before I have updated F&W. Naughty I know but at least this is fresh in my mind and Snape isn't poking his nose in and messing my brain up… Well, not too much anyway!

**There won't be any D/G action yet (Sorry Lost Enchanter -waves hello crazily-)  
They'll still have nothing but hatred for each other for a while – or hatred and indifference maybe?!  
But I'm focusing on other stuff for a little while.**

**Also this chapter is only about half the length of the first one – I'm toying with the idea of making the duelling chapters longer than the in-betweenies… But my mind changes like the wind so who knows!**

**Thanks to the people that reviewed and to those who added an alert or favourite. I have to ask – Thraxas (if you happen to read this chapter) is your name taken from those fantasy detective books?? (a few of them are hanging around in my bookcase somewhere I'm sure – very funny books, just a shame that the author might never conclude the series, sigh!)  
I can't think of anywhere else I may have seen it…**

**Anyway I digress, on with it…**

* * *

By the time she was back at the common room, Ginny was so angry that she felt like she should be foaming at the mouth.  
Both she and Hermione had gone to speak with Professor McGonagall about Malfoy's use of an unofficial school spell. But as their head of house had informed them, any legal curse, hex or jinx was acceptable (and to please stop moaning as half the spells Harry, Hermione and Neville knew weren't technically on the curriculum.)

When Ginny had pointed out that the spells weren't legal, Snape had made them up and probably taught them to Malfoy to give him an unfair advantage (so typically Slytherin), McGonagall had sighed and informed them that _Professor_ Snape ("Please Miss Weasley, have some respect for your teachers") had registered the Langlock spell, along with several others, some weeks back.

Maria, who stood nearly a foot taller than Ginny, had been forced to wrap a well muscled arm around her friend's shoulders and practically drag her away. Now that they were safely in the common room and it was unlikely that Ginny would explode, Maria let her go.

"Leave it be Ginny." She said; her hazel eyes serious for once. "Don't kick up a huge fuss or the Slytherins will have a field day with it. I bet they're already making new verses for Weasley is our King. At least Hermione kicked Pansy's arse eh? We're left with three times as many people in the running."

Ginny didn't seem to have calmed much, her eyes flashed with anger, her fists and jaw were clenched and Maria wouldn't have been surprised if sparks had shot out of her hair.  
Ginny stopped grinding her teeth for a second to say something back to Maria, but at that very moment the portrait swung inwards and Ron walked in, followed by a sheepish looking Hermione and a downcast Harry.

The whole room around them burst into cheers and Harry and Hermione were literally dragged to the table which was almost sagging with the weight of all the food and drink crammed on it.  
Hermione turned back briefly and called gently to Ron, but she was stuffed unceremoniously next to Harry on two "Chairs of honour" which would probably be carried round the room if Hermione didn't rein the rowdy group in. She looked extremely unhappy and tried once again to get back to Ron, but he just shook his head at her and nodded his head towards the crowd telling her to enjoy herself.

Maria watched as Ginny slowly walked over to her brother and, after a brief look between them, wrapped her arms around his waist (she could no longer reach his shoulders) and rested her head on his chest. After a moment Ron hesitantly hugged her back.  
Maria could see embarrassment in Ron's bright blue eyes; after all, how many teenage boys revelled in being publicly hugged by their little sister? But she could also see that he seemed slightly relieved and a weight seemed to have lifted somewhat from his shoulders.

Ginny had told Maria once that growing up, she and Ron had been very close (not close enough for Ginny to tell him about her broom stealing activities, but there are some things that just weren't meant to be told to brothers, no matter how nice they were to you). Being the youngest two, and with only a year between them, they had looked out for each other against such dangers as the garden gnomes, the possibility of being asked to help clean anything and Fred and George's tricks.  
Often, people would ask their mother if they were twins too (She always seemed rather grateful to be able to say no).  
Although the relationship had relaxed a little as they grew older, and changed much more dramatically when Ron came to Hogwarts, there were still occasionally times when the bond between them became obvious again.

Ron very quickly let go of Ginny when he saw Dean and Seamus walking over to him. Ginny looked confused for a second, but when she saw the two boys coming over she gave them a brief smile and took a few steps away from them.

"Great Kick Ron." Dean said.

Seamus nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah – it was fantastic. When we start up the wizarding footie matches here, you're so gonna be the first choice for centre forward."

Ron looked ecstatic and the three boys wandered over to the butterbeers crate chatting loudly and waving their hands around.

Ginny returned to Maria looking slightly less like a feral cat which has just been let out of a very small and uncomfortable box. "He'll be fine now. We'll just have to make sure he doesn't hear anything those stinking Slytherins might be saying. He did really well – if it hadn't have been for Malfoy cheating Ron would have beaten him. Someone should teach him a lesson."

Maria frowned; Ginny didn't normally let stuff like this bother her so much. She wisely decided not to mention right now that Malfoy hadn't actually cheated. "Let's go get some grub and a butterbeer yeah?"

"Yeah ok… Hey where's Chloe? I didn't notice her when I was talking to McGonagall." Ginny looked around guiltily.

"She had to go to see the Headmaster. Apparently Chloe's parents are hoping that rather than just transferring for a year, she can stay for next year too and finish her education here. So Dumbledore said she'd have to be sorted like everyone else. I hope she's with us... But talking about missing people, where's Neville? He should be here celebrating with the others."

Ginny looked even more stricken about forgetting her good friend. She blushed slightly and scanned the room. After asking a few people, it turned out that Neville had slunk off as soon as he could after the duel and no-one had seen him since. "Oh dear, I wonder what's wrong? I'd better go find him… Are you going to wait for Chloe?"

Maria shrugged. "I'll take some food and go wait for her outside Dumbledore's office. If she's in another house then at least we can have some food together before she goes. Why don't you take some for Neville too?"

Ginny thought it was a good idea, so the two girls wrapped up some goodies in napkins and packed them in their bags along with a few butterbeers each. "I bet he'll be in the one of the greenhouses." Ginny said. "I'll look there first."

"Won't you be cold?" Asked Maria, eyeing her friends clothing. Ginny had on a short, dark blue sleeveless shift dress with white swirls here and there. At least she was wearing thick tights and thick striped socks with her Doc Marten boots (with multi coloured laces of course…)

"Nah, Herm bought me the dress so it's got one of her famous warming charms in it. As soon as the cold air hits me I'll be toasty as a… erm, as a really warm thing…"  
Having Hermione as a friend could be really useful sometimes. Her 'famous warming charm' was a billion times better than anyone else's in the school and meant that they could all wear nice summer clothes whenever they wanted to, regardless of the temperature. (Sometimes a nice fluffy jumper has its appeal though).  
However, Hermione had stopped short of charming Ginny's one and only mid-drift top as she was scared it would encourage Ginny to get her belly button pierced, which apparently was all the rage. ("What _would_ your mother say?")

Walking to the little collection of huts and hothouses was always a fun journey. As Ginny meandered down the tiny pathway she trailed one hand idly through the bushes and pondered over what could have been bothering her green fingered friend. Surely he couldn't feel that bad for beating Anthony? Someone had to lose...

She skirted a patch of greenery which harboured a large web (she wasn't too keen on spiders either) and mooched through the gap which led to the first and largest greenhouse. This was Neville's favourite spot to hide out and Ginny often found him here tending to the plants. He had permission from Sprout to do pretty much whatever he wanted as she trusted him implicitly with the well-being of the plants and flowers (and anyway, since a debacle a few years back, it was rumoured that there was a very small and well hidden greenhouse where Sprout grew spares of the most important stuff.)

"Neville, are you here?" Ginny called from the doorway. Halfway down the right side of the greenhouse, a shock of brown hair appeared, followed by Longbottom's nervous looking eyes.

"Oh Ginny it's you! I should have known you'd come to find me." Neville stood up from where he'd been potting some unrecognisable plant and brushed earth from the knees of his olive green cords (he always left some gardening clothes in the tiny office behind the glasshouse.)

Taking off the heavy dragon-hide gloves he was required to wear, Neville came and gave Ginny a quick hug. "What's going on?" he asked her in his usual quiet tone.

"I should be asking you that you big loon. Why are you hiding away down here when there's a celebration party being held in your honour? Well… partly in your honour."

Neville gave a one shouldered shrug. "The Bat Thorne's needed re-planting." He said as if his half-hearted excuse was a valid reason to miss the party of the month.

Ginny crossed her arms and tapped one foot, little did she realise how much she looked like a younger version of her mother when she did this. After a very short while (pathetically short really) Neville cracked.

"I don't want a fuss made, poor Anthony… But if you must know… I'm worried Gin."

"About what? Goldstein won't hate you; it's just a game Nev. Please don't take stuff to heart so much."  
Her heart went out to Neville with his complete lack of confidence. She didn't understand how someone could be so worried about what people thought of them by the time they got to the 6th year. He'd done so much and he wasn't the plump, clumsy little boy he used to be - why couldn't _he_ see that.

He scuffed his Wellington boot a little before saying. "No, it's nothing like that. I mean I hope Anthony doesn't hate me, that would be awful – but it's just. Oh poo."

Neville mussed his hair slightly and shifted feet uncomfortably for a second before he carried on. Look – I'm worried about the next round. I know I'm not that good – No don't argue – I have to face one of those three… Harry, Hermione or – or M.Malfoy."

"Oh. I see…" Ginny said quietly, understanding flooding through her brain. Not wanting to offend her friend by suggesting _why_ she thought he wasn't quite as good as the others, she said. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. You know loads of really cool spells and like I said, it's just a game… I'm sure Harry and Hermione will be happy to practice with you."

Neville hung his head, blushing a little at her compliment. "Thanks Ginny, but we're not allowed to practise with anyone else in the competition anymore. They stopped us before the round which decided who went into the quarter finals."

Ginny was a little taken aback. Harry, Ron and Hermione had been disappearing lots recently and she'd assumed they were practicing as they had been over the summer. "Well I'm sure they won't tell anyone if you join them."

Neville shook his head, "Dumbledore cast some kind of spell on us all so we can't practice any sort of spells which could be used in the tournament until we actually get on stage. It's a no-go; I can't even duel with any of the people who were beaten." He sighed again.

Ginny felt sorry for her friend – she felt sure that if he had a bit more conviction then he could be as good as the other competitors, well maybe not Harry, but then everyone was certain that Harry was going to win so she didn't think anyone in school could reach his skills.  
And _NO_, that wasn't her one time crush on him rising from its cobwebby grave. Anyone who had private duelling lessons with Dumbledore had to be leaps and bounds above the other students.

Nevertheless, she didn't have to say that out loud. "Neville Longbottom. You have, with no help from anyone, reached the quarter finals of the school wizarding duels. Stop being so worried and pull yourself together. I believe in you, now show me what spells you're going to beat your next opponent with…"

Neville opened and shut his mouth a few times, looking very much like a fish. Then slowly pulled his wand from his trouser pocket and wondered what on earth he should cast first.

* * *

Walking back from the Herbology buildings took at lot longer than getting there; partly because they were pleasantly full with party food, but mainly due to Neville insisting on pointing out interesting facts about all the vegetation they passed. Ginny knew that she'd never remember half of the stuff he was saying, but hey, it made him happy.

They were both in a very good mood; Ginny's encouragement had given Neville the boost that he needed to perform spell after impressive spell (most of them involving plant-life somehow – but as Ginny commented, "hey if you've got a skill, use it to your best advantage".) and their exhilaration only increased when they reached the common room again and Neville was swirled up by the group of Gryffindors, who – if possible – were even louder than when Ginny had left.

Spotting Maria and Chloe across the room, Ginny bounded up to them. "Yay – you're a Gryff too!" She said excitedly to Chloe who, Ginny realised now that she saw her standing, was almost as tall as Maria and had the same curvy figure as her cousin (although Chloe's curves were soft, whereas Maria loved sports and was extremely well muscled.)

"Yeah." Somehow the enthusiasm seemed to be missing from Chloe's voice. Ginny laughingly asked if she was unhappy to be bundled in with such a noisy bunch.

"NO-no, of course not. No I'm really pleased I'm here." But still something seemed a little off. Ginny raised her eyebrows at the two questioningly.

Luckily enough Maria didn't let her friend down, leaning close to Ginny she said, "The hat initially wanted to put Chloe in Hufflepuff because it said she had unwavering loyalty and a dependable, loving heart."

Chloe looked completely down-hearted. "I begged to be with Maria and you; I said that my best friends were in Gryffindor and that I would be as brave as I needed to be. After asking me about a million times if I was sure, the hat finally put me here."

"So what's the problem?" Ginny asked kindly, glad that Chloe already considered her a friend; there was something about the girl which made you want to be held in high regard by her.

Maria, as ever, interrupted Chloe. "She's worried that she forced the hat to make the wrong decision and she will bring shame and ruin upon our house by being totally useless." She spoke in an over-exaggerated way, letting both Ginny and Chloe know that she thought that kind of thinking was utter rot.

"Well I didn't put it quite like that but, yeah, I'm a bit worried that I'll let you guys down. I don't want to lose you any house points or anything just because I was too stubborn to go where I belong."

Ginny grinned at the girl. "Chloe, seriously don't sweat it. Loads of people get considered for other houses" She pointed at a few people round the room. "Hermione's so smart that the hat wanted her in Ravenclaw; Neville was nearly in Hufflepuff too, as was Lucy over there and they're both great, Neville earned Gryffindor the house cup in his first year. I know a couple of people from other houses that have said they were nearly sorted differently, some were offered Gryffindor – why they said no baffles me, but each to their own. Finally... well, can you keep a secret?"

Chloe nodded, Ginny knew that Maria was useless with keeping stuff quiet from her friends (she get too excited, luckily she managed to keep a hold of herself around unsavoury characters) and she already knew this piece of info so she'd undoubtedly tell Chloe anyway.  
"Harry and my brothers Fred and George were all nearly sorted into Slytherin… the sorting hat briefly considered it for me too – but in my case it kind of decided on its own that I was too emotional to be there and I'd do something wonderful in Gryffindor... We're all still waiting for that to happen by the way.  
So don't worry. Dumbledore says that a person's choice should matter in things like this. He said that the hat always takes into consideration three things: who you are now, who you could be and who you want to be."

Throughout her little speech, Ginny could see Chloe growing less agitated and becoming happier.

"See!" Said Maria with a flourish. "I told you Ginny would make you feel better. Solving people's problems is obviously your wonderful thing Ginny. Speaking of which, I see Neville's joined us again."

Maria flounced over to Neville and began flirting outrageously with the shy Herbology expert, cooing over his victory as if he'd defeated Voldemort himself.  
Chloe raised her eyebrows and Ginny giggled. "Maria has a thing for Neville. He told me that he's petrified of her attention – which naturally made Maria flirtier - but I think he likes it really, he just thinks she's kidding around with him."

When the girls got upstairs late in the evening, their dorm had been enlarged and an extra bed had been added for Chloe. Chloe worried that the other girls that had already settled in would think her a nuisance but Maria and Ginny had assured her that this sort of thing happened all the time. Transfer students were a regular occurrence at Hogwarts.

When Hermione passed their dorm on her way to be, she stuck her head in to say good night and after spotting the extra bed, commented that before Voldemort first rose to power, there used to be far, far more students in the giant school and almost triple the amount of teachers. But even though he had 'been defeated' (disappeared really) after the attack on the Potters, people were wary of him returning. So, lots of witches and wizards were now home schooled.

"It's a shame," Hermione said sadly. "Because they would get a much better education if they came to a proper school like this. I mean, imagine if my parents hadn't let me come here. They would have no idea how to help me learn... surely there must be lots of poor children who never get past the basics – or worse, don't get taught at all. I bet Voldemort's ruined more than any of us can even imagine" She gave a big sigh before wishing them a pleasant night's sleep.

Chloe looked so sad at Hermione's words, that Maria started an impromptu pillow fight to cheer her up. After a moment's hesitation, Ginny joined in; she didn't really want to think about all the awful things Voldemort and his Death Eaters had done, especially not when she had been having such a nice evening. Soon all the other sixth year girls had come upstairs and joined in the fight – their laughter and squeals of joy helped Ginny forget the memories that had been brought back.

When she finally fell asleep (after all the feathers had been sent flying back into their repaired cases) Ginny still had a smile on her face. She had forgotten all about Voldemort and the part of his soul she had known as Tom Riddle. She had also forgotten that until just a few hours ago, she had been very, very mad with one Draco Malfoy.

* * *

**Yeah, so I tried desperately to remember the sort of rubbish my friends and I were wearing in the mid to late 90s… (I was born in 1980 so should hopefully be fairly accurate… Then again I've never been overly bothered by being fashionable so who knows!)**

**As far as I can remember it was a mish-mash of stuff chucked together but I do look back fondly on my blue and white swirled dress which I did indeed wear with opaque tights and D.M.s!  
Oh – D.M, Doc Marten or Draco Malfoy... How cool! **

**Finally, sorry for the amount of brackets in this story – I just like them (if you hadn't noticed) and felt that as this was a less serious subject than F&W I could mess about a bit!**

**Next chapter may well be more from Draco's point of view.**


	3. The night before the morning after

**Right – chapter 3. Woohoo! I promise that I will update F&W soon, but I'd rather take my time and get it (slightly) right than mess the whole thing up by rushing. Plus – I'm having fun with this ;)**

**Also, I've just read 2 of Dooki's fab stories so if I'm a bit weird (or Draco does weird things) blame it on her influence!!**

**This is going to be from Draco's point of view really (although not in first person) so any slights on people's character or perverted comments are him and not me – ok… OK?  
Don't tell me off if you don't like what you hear, I warned you!!**

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It was coming up for eight o'clock and the sun had just become visible over the top of the lake. The first beams were lighting up the sky and streaks of oranges, reds and pinks seeped through the misty clouds, tinting their many shades of grey with a purple hue. The vibrant arrival of day was reflected in the great lake, the colours and shapes distorted by millions of tiny ripples created by the gentle November breezes.

Draco Malfoy smiled to himself at the beautiful sight; he had always had the ability to wake himself up at any given time without an alarm, and last night he'd decided that he wanted to see the sunrise. So, sure enough, at seven thirty his eyes had popped open. After adjusting to the gloom, Draco had rummaged around in his bedside cabinet for a while, eventually producing a couple of potions which he guzzled greedily.  
He then cast a warming charm on the whole windowsill and settled in to wait for the sun to come up. It had been worth it…

Being best friends with the head boy (Blaise Zabini) certainly had its advantages. The position meant that Blaise was allowed his own room, free from the nosiness and bother of fellow students. But Zabini, instead of revelling in his new found freedom, had asked Snape if the dorm could be extended for his good friend Draco Malfoy.  
Dumbledore thought it was a wonderfully kind thing to offer and of course agreed immediately, even though he had refused every single one of Lucius Malfoy's requests for a separate room for his son regardless of what he had offered (or threatened).

In reality, kindness had little to do with it. Blaise knew that he and Draco always looked out for each other, and it would be much easier to avoid those still desperate to drag the two of them into their 'Junior Death Eater' plans if they were both away from them.

Malfoy and Zabini enjoyed the other's company; they shared a similar sense of humour, ideas on everyday life and pastimes.  
Both boys loved their mothers (who had encouraged their friendship and had become friends themselves once Lucius had been put into the wizarding prison Azkaban) they were admired and looked up to by their fellow students (although that would likely change as soon as the other Slytherins realised neither of them wanted anything to do with The Dark Lord) and they also shared a love for sweet things.

In fact they were so similar in nature that if it wasn't for their looks, they could easily pass as brothers.  
Blaise was slightly shorter than Draco, but he was broader, with strong wide shoulders and impressively muscled arms. His skin was as dark as Malfoy's was pale, and his black, slightly slanted eyes were framed by short, thick and curly lashes unlike the extensive, straight ones surrounding Draco's stormy grey eyes.  
They were both considered very attractive by the women (and some men) who saw them… Malfoy had a long thin face and sharp, elegant features (which you could almost call pointy as long as he wasn't around to hear you say so) whereas Zabini had inherited his mother's button nose and his biological father's wide, square jaw line (His mother had been married eight times now and always insisted he call her new husbands 'father'. He didn't mind too much; they all knew how much his mother doted on her son, which meant they were extra nice to him. Plus, they never seemed to last too long, in fact she was currently on the prowl for husband number nine.)

So, the room had been extended so the two close friends could stay together, and now it was a very nice space to stay in – almost like a studio apartment. At one end there were two large leather armchairs nestled by the marbled fireplace, which would soon be lit by the house elves (it was tiny but enough to keep the chill out).  
A small mahogany desk sat nearby with a rickety chair, and next to it was a tiny bookcase which was already packed full of books (some of which were hiding certain magazines). The whole room was decorated in neutral creams and chocolates, with bronze highlights scattered around. Even the luxuriously thick curtains and bed linen matched the theme.

At the far end were two large four-poster beds, one on each side of the room; Draco had put up several thick wooden screens around them to make it feel like they each had a room to themselves. Blaise had also cast several spells that he had been taught by his mother onto each 'bedroom' giving them complete privacy (something a teenage boy is most grateful for, especially in his bed!)  
Although anything that happened inside the space was kept private, Blaise had made sure the people in there could hear what was going on outside. (Neither of them particularly wanted to be burnt to a crisp simply because they didn't hear the fire-alarm banshee, nor miss out on a great party because no one could contact them!)

In between the two make shift bedrooms was the door to their bathroom, which was decorated in warm greys and silver, with thick rugs to cover the slate tiles and oh-so soft towels and bathrobes. There was a walk in bath (a smaller version of that in the prefects' bathroom) a separate shower cubicle and two sinks. Fortunately, the corner which held the toilet had been walled in and was its own divided area (with a handy window for ventilation!)

Draco's bed was situated nearest the large bay window as Blaise didn't like the view; Zabini would never admit to it, but he wasn't particularly keen on heights, and the Head boy's room and Head girl's room were situated in spindly little turrets jutting out of the castle.  
Theirs overlooked the great lake (far, far below them – that side of the castle was situated on a cliff edge) and the girl's view spanned some of the large grounds and the closest parts of the forbidden forest. Presumably this was so they could spy out the land and make sure no naughty students were sneaking out at night, but it was unlikely that Blaise would be taking advantage of the tower's positioning.

Yes, being best friends with Zabini was a very good thing indeed, not that Draco was without merit. He was academically the smarter of the two boys (although Blaise was by no means stupid) and often helped Blaise with a tricky bit of potions or arithmancy homework. He also was the one who talked their way out of detentions on the rare occasion that they got caught doing one of the many things they shouldn't be doing.

Things that Draco always seemed to come up with to entertain them, things such as sneaking into the kitchens for alcohol late at night, which generally led to things like poker games in a disused classroom or things like moving the various suits of armour into suggestive poses and leaving them outside Trelawney's room.  
They had once wedged the statue of Lachlan the Lanky in front of the Gryffindor common room the night before a Hogsmeade trip, so everyone was stuck in there until the teachers finally found them. They had also charmed Professor Binn's door handle so it gave everyone who touched it a shock and turned their hair green.  
Draco had convinced Blaise, Pansy and Daphne that it would be fun to streak through the corridors with no clothes on… Although that only happened the once, had been fuelled by a very successful theft of alcohol from the kitchens and thankfully hadn't resulted in them been caught. (Also, thankfully, Malfoy hadn't been quite drunk enough to ask Crabbe or Goyle to join them.)

The reason Draco was in such a good mood today was due to the events of last night, which he sat and thought about as the sun came up...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Draco had been thrilled at beating that moron Weasley in the duels. The spider thing had back-fired a little, but at least Snape's spell had worked well. Draco had been in the library Thursday night and overheard Granger (the bushy haired mudblood) reminding Weasley (the ginger tosser) that he needed to practice his non-verbal spells as he just couldn't get the hang of them. Now_ that_ had proved to be some very handy information indeed and had won Malfoy the match.

So, now that he had got into the semi-finals and didn't have to worry about anything for the whole weekend, Draco had been thinking about what they could do to waste a bit of time.  
The latest scheme he and Blaise had decided on, was to send a few Aresto Momentum spells up at the astronomy tower – Draco had concrete proof that Ernie Macmillan would be there with Hannah Abbot that night, and the plan was to leave them stuck there to be found in the morning (along with any other unfortunate couples that happened to be up there.)

Zabini's weekend rounds always took him a good few hours and meant that he would be delayed until quite late (giving time for Ernie and Hannah to get a bit steamy), so Draco decided to go and practice some Quiddich. Everyone else from his house was busy, secretly planning a huge party for the Slytherin 'duel winner'… Well, they thought it was secret, but as usual, Draco knew about it.  
It was to be held much later that night – Slytherin parties normally didn't start until everyone else was safely tucked up in bed – so Malfoy figured he could get in a good few hours on the pitch. (The only other team that usually practiced on Saturdays were the Gryffindorks but they'd all be holed up in their miserable excuse for a common room having a party – probably with jelly and ice-cream knowing their mental ages.)

So that he could get limbered up before flying, Draco jogged a long route which wound all around the school grounds - the lush green grass was always neatly trimmed and a joy to run on. About halfway through his warm-up, he heard footsteps crunching on the gravel pathways near the Herbology buildings.  
At first he just assumed it was Professor Sprout or some complete nerd who wanted to work on a Saturday night but suddenly from the nearest greenhouse, a female voice said loudly,  
"Neville, are you here?"

Malfoy didn't recognise the voice, but he certainly knew the name it had spoken. So, Longbottom was meeting some girl…  
Draco crept around the greenhouse to where thick bushes walled in most of the back wall; he made a small parting to see through and knelt down. From here he could see in but was very unlikely to be spotted; he cast a spell so that he could hear what was going on inside and then settled down to wait...

He hadn't teased Longbottom for a while now – nor anyone really. It was too much effort when he could be doing something much more fun and worthwhile with Blaise. Maybe he'd just grown out of that phase where he felt the need to prove he was better than everybody. If people were too stupid to realise his greatness… well, more fool them.

However, there was no reason to let perfectly good information go unheard, if nothing else it might be a bit of gossip he could pass on to Pansy and watch how quickly it got round the school.

Draco smirked when he saw none other than little Ginny Weasley (not so little anymore) inside with Longbottom. It was a revelation; he knew that there were many boys who wanted to get their crummy little hands on the girl Weasel – Merlin only knew why…  
Well, yes; now that he got a proper look at her, she had a great pair of tits, a small waist and a shapely arse, but good lords above – she was a Weasley. You couldn't even have a grope from behind and pretend she was someone else, because all that garish hair would be in your face reminding you.

Not to mention that rumour had it (courtesy of Pansy of course) that she'd turned frigid as an icicle. The girl had dated no-one since last year, despite having offers. Hell, she'd even been asked to Hogsmeade by Macmillan before he'd turned to Abbott. Ok, he was a complete loser of a Hufflepuff, but he was a pureblood with no discernable traits (other than being a complete loser of a Hufflepuff of course, but she _was_ a goody-goody Gryff.)  
Maybe that was why she was with Longbottom – he'd never pluck up the courage to even kiss a girl, let alone give her one… Yeah, he must be the safe option.

Just as Draco had made his mind up to leave (watching the couple do nothing was really boring) the two started talking about the duelling competition.  
So, Longbottom was scared of him eh? Interesting - although he'd always been a wimpy lump of a boy, so it wasn't exactly surprising.

Suddenly, the weasel girl almost shouted "Neville Longbottom. You have, with no help from anyone, reached the quarterfinals of the school wizarding duels. Stop being so worried and pull yourself together. I believe in you, now show me what spells you're going to beat your next opponent with…"

Twice in one week – he couldn't believe it, first info on Weaselby now on Longbottom.  
Draco sat back down and, after transfiguring a leaf into some parchment and a blade of grass into a quill (in a manner that would have impressed even McGonagall herself); he started to take notes on the many different spells he saw being performed…

A while later, Draco walked through the now dark and misty pathways up to his allotted meeting point, (a handy alcove not far from the astronomy tower) and whistled a happy little tune to himself.  
"Good evening Blaise – and what a simply perfect evening it is."  
Blaise stepped out from the shadows with raised eyebrows; Draco gave him a mirthless grin and turned towards the path which led to their destination.

Zabini, still managing to keep up despite Draco's fast pace, asked a question. "You can't truly be that excited about freezing a few couples in the act can you? You weren't even this happy when we laced Mrs Norris' milk and she went nuts and wrecked Filches office – tonight's plan doesn't even involve alcohol…"

"You know me too well my friend. No, amusing as this is going to be – I have a much better reason for my good mood."

Draco added nothing further and the two teenagers walked in silence for a moment. Zabini was the first to crack. "Fine, you win. Spill…"

Draco (after a customary smirk) explained everything that he had seen and heard, ending where he had left the couple, settling down to what looked like a junk food picnic.  
"So naturally I'm going to find out the counter curse to every single one of his spells – just in case of course…"

Blaise nodded, looking impressed. After a brief pause he said, "So… Longbottom's getting some. Who'd have thought it possible?"

"Nah, Pansy said that Weasley Junior is off men, remember? I reckon she's using the nerd 'cause she knows she won't have to put out with him."

Blaise was sceptical. "Hmm, why all of a sudden though? She was playing tonsil hockey all over the school with that twat Thomas for ages and must have done something right – he was mooning over her for months. Then at the end of the year she was all loved up with Spotty Potty.  
No, I reckon the nob-head chucked her and she's been making do with that loser Longbottom all year – that's why she's been turning blokes down... She's just too ashamed of him to tell anyone."

"It's a theory I guess." Draco mused as he slipped through an archway and crossed one of the many courtyards. "But what's she got to be ashamed of – she's just as much of an embarrassment as he is."

Blaise pursed his full lips as he thought. "Being dumped by her 'boy wonder' I guess… But you know, she's not that bad… I mean other than the whole blood traitor stuff – and all that shit's hit the fan now we know Voldie's a fraud… bloody half-blood liar." He frowned at the reminder of all the rubbish they'd been told about pure-blood supremacy coming from someone with a muggle father.

"You still believe in pure-blood and stuff though don't you?" Draco asked, sounding very concerned.

"Of course mate – don't be stupid. But maybe it doesn't have to be quite as strict as it was before... I mean that Weasley bird - well, she _is_ a pure-blood… and she's hot. Just needs some guidance to get over all those funny ideas her dad has." He seemed hesitant for a moment but ploughed ahead anyway.  
"And Snape, you know, he's not _completely_ pure-blooded – but he's alright, yeah?"

Draco shrugged, uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading. "Snape's cool an all - and Millie's ok I guess… but I don't think anything could convince me to lower myself to Weasley's level, ever. She's just too… too Gryffindor.  
Plus, can you imagine having to be associated with her idiot of a brother? No way…  
Why this sudden change of heart anyway? You fancy stealing her away from nerdy Neville? I think she'd be too scared to hook up with a big bad Slytherin like you…"

Blaise shook his head vehemently. "No way! I mean she's fit an all, but I couldn't be doing with all the fuss - too feisty." (Blaise was very laid back when it came to his relationships with women, to pair him with someone like Ginny Weasley gave him a headache.)  
"And you're an idiot yourself if you think she'd be scared of me… remember that bat-bogey hex she hit you with in Umbridge's office? Ok she was with her friends and all but still; she got into the Slug-club hexing some other student with the same thing. The broad's got balls…"

Malfoy turned his head and scowled at Zabini. No-one was meant to mention the bat-bogie incident ever again… "She's ginger man, and freckly – I can't believe we're even having this conversation – why'd you start all this Weaslette appreciation shit anyway? Not getting any action?"

Blaise threw his friend a rather nasty look. "You started the damned conversation – and as it happens, I met a very interesting piece of arse earlier today…"

Now it was Draco's turn to be intrigued; all thoughts of the littlest Weasley gone, he drawled. "Pray elaborate – details Zabini, details."

As they were now seconds from the pillars where they were going to hide, Blaise insisted that they follow through with the plans and retire to their room before continuing, (Draco agreed immediately when Blaise revealed that he had several bottles of very good mead hidden about his person).

So, once their mischief for the night had been accomplished, and they were safely tucked away with several glasses of the heady, elf brewed mead already consumed by each, Zabini, black eyes twinkling, told of his latest quarry.

"Chloe Middleton... she's new mate, sixth year. Really different you know, refreshing." Seeing the dubious look on Draco's face he added, "Nothing like loony Lovegood though… Statuesque figure; big lush lips, She's not classically beautiful but certainly has a very attractive face. She's got a look about her, like she'd be a total experience to be with…"

Draco nodded in approval of his friend's description; he preferred a shorter girl himself but Blaise seemed to like the tall girls, one of the few areas where they disagreed – however it was handy as they didn't have to step on each other's toes.  
"Middleton… I've not heard of them. Pure-blood?"

"Her father's grandfather was a muggle. That's where the surname is from – she's distantly related to the Gamp family somehow though. But get this - she's been living on this tiny island in the middle of nowhere. It was some sort of weird experimental commune that was set up ten years ago...  
She's totally clueless about stuff, it's cute – I mean not clueless like a mudblood or anything, it _was_ a wizarding commune – but like, she'd never been in a school with houses before; there were about ten kids in her whole school, so she didn't have a clue what to expect. How weird is that?"  
Blaise almost knocked the bottle over with his wild hand movements, but managed to grab a hold of it before it hit the floor (most impressive considering the amount they'd drunk already) and poured them both another drink.

Draco laughed at his roommate. "Merlin's balls. I didn't ask for a bloody essay. How long were you talking to this girl for? Did you even get your rounds done?"

Blaise waved off Malfoy's scorn and knocked back his glass of mead (which Draco quickly replaced). "Not long actually, she's just really easy to talk to. I was in a meeting with Snape and McGonagall when Dumbledore sent a message to say Chloe had to be escorted to his office to be sorted. Granger was going to do it but I intervened. Pissed the book-worm right off too!"

Draco smirked and slid down in his chair a little. Stretching his legs out in front of the fire he asked. "So what house did she end up in?"

Zabini sighed and fidgeted slightly, a very un-Blaise-like movement. He downed his glass and poured another before answering. "Wish I knew, not Slytherin though, or else I'd have been summoned to take her to the common room."  
He hesitated a moment, causing Draco to get an uneasy feeling in his chest (which was nothing to do with the amount of mead he'd had either).

"This is where things turn nasty - I thought I'd hang around for a bit; sorting doesn't take long, but some unfortunate turned up asking after 'her cousin Chloe'. Anyway I had no desire to talk to either of them at that point so I scarpered, - it almost put me right off the whole thing you know… but... but I still might give Chloe a shot. I don't know. Man." Blaise seemed very worked up over a girl he'd only briefly spoken to. It wasn't like him at all.

Draco straightened and gave him a stony look. "Who is her cousin?"

Blaise mumbled something into his glass, so Draco, intrigued and worried for his friend, told Zabini to come clean or he'd ask Pansy to investigate the girl.

Glaring furiously, Blaise finally told Malfoy what he wanted to know. "Maria Attleby – satisfied? A Bloody Gryff. Like as not Chloe's gone there too." He threw the now almost empty bottle of mead into the fire where it smashed into several pieces. The last dregs of alcohol splashed into the coals, causing the fire to flare up and set Draco's socks alight.

By now both boys were rather drunk, so Malfoy screamed bloody murder and Zabini ran around like a headless chicken, finally coming to his senses a little and spraying soda water over Draco's feet.  
Unfortunately for Draco, Blaise was a little to over-enthusiastic and ended up soaking his friend.

"I'm wet." Malfoy stated the obvious. He pulled his singed and sodden socks off and flung one straight into Zabini's face. He then broke into a fit of very unmanly giggles. Blaise lasted about ten seconds before he too was cackling like a witch.

This went on for some time, but about the point when both boys were rolling on the floor with tears of mirth streaming from their eyes, there was a knock on the door. Blaise managed to haul himself to his feet and, still chuckling quietly to himself, opened the door.

Pansy stood in front of him, dolled up to the nines. "What were you two doing? I could hear you from the end of the corridor." She noticed that, for some reason, Zabini was tightly grasping the nozzle of an empty crystal soda-siphon which presumably had once held sparkling water (or gin and tonic knowing the boys...)  
"Actually, don't tell me – I don't want to know."

She slipped past Blaise and took in the scene; Draco seemed composed, although he was lounging on the floor with no socks on and totally soaked trousers. There was an empty bottle of alcohol on the table, another broken bottle in the fire and there was a nasty smell in the air, rather like burnt hair.

Without blinking an eyelash, Pansy whipped out her wand and cleaned up the sorry mess. Then she Accio'd the boys some more suitable clothes and told them to hurry up and get changed.  
"It's going to be another one of those nights, I can tell. Come on 'Party Boy' – let's not disappoint the minions."

Draco pouted from his position on the floor. "I thought it was meant to be a surprise."

"You already knew about it, and it's not like I'm not jumping out from a cake again, it's not even your birthday. Come on… Just, remember to act surprised or Nott might cry." Pansy shuddered at the thought.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The party had been a huge success; Draco knew so because he had to take two of his special hang-over potions this morning before he could face getting out of bed. (Snape, while not very happy at the thought of his Godson drinking so much, kept Draco provided with his very best hang-over remedy. At least that way the boy wouldn't lounge in bed all day and waste his time at Hogwarts).

Malfoy had a vague recollection of doing karaoke to cheer Pansy up (she was unhappy at losing to that 'cow-faced piece of muggle-born trash' as she put it) and unfortunately had some strange tune and the words 'At first I was afraid, I was petrified' stuck in his head… hopefully that was not what he had been singing as he tried not to announce that he was capable of being scared...  
Could he, in fact, even sing? Draco decided that Pansy had a lot to answer for and she would be the one obliterating everyone's memory if it turned out he'd done anything vaguely embarrassing.

Still, as the party was winding down Blaise had disappeared somewhere with Daphne Greengrass, so hopefully that would get his mind off that new girl… A Gryffindor indeed!

After the sun had completed its journey to the sky and it was full daylight, Draco decided that it was time to get ready for breakfast. The food on Sunday mornings certainly surpassed the rest of the week; the house elves excelled at big greasy fry-ups and he couldn't wait to get his fill of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, beans, toast, black pudding, sausages, tomatoes and anything else they were serving.

Thinking of all the food he was soon to consume hurried Malfoy up; he got washed and dressed in record time. As he laced up his Italian Wyvern-leather boots he debated whether or not to wake Blaise… Daphne could still be in there with him, but she might well want breakfast too.

In the end he settled with calling out to Blaise that he was off to breakfast. As there was a permanent form of the imperturbable charm cast on both rooms, Draco didn't expect a reply, so he was quite shocked when Zabini poked his head out and asked him to wait.

Malfoy sat by the still cold fireplace and made a half-hearted attempt at reading a book, but his mind wasn't really focusing properly yet. When Blaise returned from his own shower (almost as fast as Draco had been) he looked much less messy than he had before entering the bathroom.

"Leaving Daphne to it are you?" Draco asked as they walked out of the door.

Blaise looked confused. "She's not here mate."

"Oh you sly dog, kicked her out so you could get a bit of sleep eh?"

Blaise stopped Draco. "I wasn't with Daphne last night. I came back alone – before you by the way. You and Parkinson blundered into the room at about three-thirty and unknowingly gave me a rendition of 'New York, New York' before you finally told her to bugger off and let you sleep."

Draco asked the most important question which sprang to mind. "Was I any good?"

Blaise laughed, "Malfoy you are the vainest person I know! Yes, you have a wonderful rich baritone voice. Pansy was also surprisingly good and managed to harmonise for a quite while before breaking down in laughter."

"That's ok then." Satisfied that all was well in the world, Draco continued walking. "So how come you wandered off with Greengrass if you weren't planning on making out with her?"

"I wanted to talk to her that's all. Get a girl's opinion on stuff. Jellyfish."  
The last word was directed at the portrait of Lewis, a jolly fat man surrounded by dogs, who guarded a passage to the ground floor.

"About what? And what's wrong with Pansy – that's who we normally ask about stuff."

Blaise didn't answer straight away; they had to navigate a few trick steps and make a hasty jump as the staircase decided to move just before they got off. By that time they were nearly at the great hall so Malfoy decided to wait until Zabini was ready to talk to him – he always did in the end.

The great hall was still fairly empty but, as was customary at the weekends, the food was already set out on the tables and piping hot. Students pretty much had the weekends to themselves and breakfast was an open affair; on Sundays it stretched from seven until eleven. Malfoy assumed that the house elves were allowed any food that was left over - not that he cared about wastage, he was just curious in case he ever slept in late and needed to find some food.'

When they had eaten their fill, Zabini said to Malfoy. "Let's go to Hogsmeade. We'll have a drink in the hog's head and talk there."

Draco nodded, knowing that Zabini wanted to talk where no one else could hear. The both rose and walked out of the great hall. Just as they got to the grand front doors, someone called out. "Blaise – Blaise Zabini!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Yeah so this was getting really long. I know I said the in-betweenie chapters would be shorter but this isn't really! Haven't really got a fully developed plot yet (just basic ideas...) but hopefully it should all work out ok. I hope there's enough going on here – and sorry if it seems like a bit of a cliff hanger – I know some people don't like them!**


	4. Couple confusion

**Hello again! I just wanted to say that this chapter (like the last one) while not narrated by Draco is still written from his point of view. So if there's anything that offends anyone, I'm rally sorry, I was just trying to get into the mindset of a seventeen year old boy!!**

**I'd also like to thank Babiiee-Z for her reviews (I'm assuming you're a she?!)  
I know she isn't bothered about a mention but she writes good reviews and crazy stories which I have thoroughly enjoyed reading when I should really be doing other stuff ;)**

**On another note (for those of you that are interested) I found my notebook for F&W while tidying up (my house looked like a dump, we're **_**still**_** having the kitchen fitted, it's dragging on a bit – but I guess that's normal!) and it's been staring at me all day so I shall probably finish the next chapter off at some point this week!**

**On with it…**

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blaise turned to see who had called his name; at the sight of his face lighting up with a perfect smile, Malfoy also spun round.

What he saw was a dark haired girl bounding down the main stair-case waving and grinning. She stopped once she reached them, slightly out of breath.  
This _had_ to be Chloe – she was exactly as Zabini had described her; Draco's thoughts were confirmed when Blaise took her hand, kissed it and said,  
"Chloe Middleton, what a wonderful surprise to see you again."

Malfoy almost rolled his eyes when she blushed appreciatively. He was shocked (although he didn't show it of course) when she turned to him and smiled. She _was_ pretty, just as Blaise had said, although it was in an unconventional way. Those glasses would have made most people look like a complete geek, but instead they amplified her piercing dark brown eyes and thick black lashes.

And that outfit… it could almost be considered prudish; an ankle length, many layered black skirt and high-necked blue blouse, worn with flat ballet type shoes – Yawn...  
But when you got close up, the skirt's layers were over-lapped so that if she stood in a certain way (which she was…) a split appeared up one side stopping just above her knee, revealing that the previously dull shoes actually had ribbons attached to them which criss-crossed all the way up her calf… And that shirt was so well fitted that it probably showed off her assets just as well as any low cut t-shirt could have done, but without looking slutty.

"You're Draco Malfoy." She said. It wasn't a question but her knowledge didn't really shock either boy. Nearly everyone knew 'Draco Malfoy' and someone was bound to have mentioned him. Whatever had been said couldn't be too bad though, as she continued with her hand outstretched, "Pleased to meet you – I didn't know you and Blaise were acquainted."

Zabini stepped in and took her hand from Draco just before he too, was about to kiss the back of it.  
"The blame for that lies entirely with me I am afraid to say. I was too fascinated by your history to bore you with the turgid details of my life. But Draco is a good friend of mine – the best I could ask for, and I did you both an injustice by not introducing you immediately."

Draco could see that Chloe was falling for Blaise's full-on charm mode (like all the girls did), although he wasn't sure Zabini had ever performed so convincingly before – and why did he sound like he was out of some old book? No one under fifty spoke like that! The girl seemed to love it though…

Chloe was smiling and looking bashfully at Blaise from under lowered eyelashes. They made small talk for a few moments, had she enjoyed her first night at Hogwarts (when she mentioned that the girls had a pillow fight the night before, both boys' eyes glazed over slightly as they thought of scantily clad girls bouncing around…), which house had she been sorted into (Gryffindor, although it was nearly Hufflepuff – Draco was impressed that Blaise didn't pull a face), what classes was she hoping to take and so on.

Eventually, Blaise said. "But I do apologise, I am taking up all your time – were you off to breakfast?"

Chloe smiled (Draco had to admit that it was a lovely smile … Even for a Gryffindor.) "Actually I ate earlier, I was looking for you."

The look on Zabini's face was one of pure bliss – Malfoy wondered if someone had slipped drugs into their breakfast.

Chloe continued confidently, "I'm sure you know already, but there's a trip to Hogsmeade next Saturday … Well anyway – I'm a Hogsmeade virgin – I didn't even get the train to school as I started half way into the term, so I'd really like to go.  
The problem is that my friends Ginny and Maria aren't able to make it, I'm not really sure about going alone, and well – you're the only other person that I'd like to go with. I haven't made many friends yet you see."

Malfoy could just tell that Blaise was going to say yes. It was going too far. Not only was he talking to Gryff in the middle of the school, he was going to agree to accompany her to Hogsmeade, it just wasn't on.  
So, Draco answered before Blaise could, "I'm so sorry to disappoint you, but I believe Professor Snape had some important work that he required Blaise and me to help with next weekend."

Zabini turned to Draco with a look of pure disbelief on his face, but before he could say anything, Chloe (with a crestfallen face) said nobly. "Oh, well never mind. Another time maybe… One of the boys did say I could tag along with him and his friends – Harry Potter, you probably know him. It's just – well, the three of them seem so close and I'd feel like I was intruding. Plus you seemed more fun – but it's ok. You have stuff to do."

Blaise looked as though he were about to have an apoplexy but managed to croak out. "I'll see if I can't get out of this thing with Snape. I'm very sorry – I'll get back to you on it. I promise."

Chloe managed a small smile, gave her goodbyes and disappeared quickly back up the stairs, looking a lot less perky than she had before.

Zabini stormed out of the gigantic front doors and strode quickly down the path towards Hogsmeade. (A little known rule meant that as a seventh year, he was allowed to go there whenever he didn't have classes, it made a pleasant change from being younger and waiting for the one day in a blue moon when they were allowed to go.)

"What the _hell_ was that about?" He snarled at Malfoy.

"I was going to ask you the same bloody thing – mooning all over her like a fool."

Blaise stopped so suddenly that Draco nearly ploughed into the back of him. He twirled round and pointed a finger at Malfoy. "Do you want to know what I asked Daphne last night? I asked her to find out what house Chloe had been put in. I was confused about what to do and thought that if I knew for sure that she was in Gryffindor, it would make my mind up to just drop the whole thing."

Draco nodded warily, a little nervous that his friend was bristling with anger.

"Greengrass said that she knew the girl was in Gryffindor, as she'd overheard a Ravenclaw saying that he wished she'd been sorted with them – seems she's getting a few admirers.  
Anyway, Daph seemed a little confused that I was asking… when I got to the bottom of the matter it seems that rumour has it that we're an item."

"You and Daphne?" Asked Draco; knowing full well that they his friends had only ever experienced a few steamy sessions together, no-ties involved.

"No…" Blaise said slowly. "Me and _You_."

"Pfffft, yeah right." Draco said laughing loudly.

Blaise looked hurt. "Well I don't see what's_ that_ ridiculous about it. Am I that hideous to you? Too 'big boned'?"

Draco's grey eyes widened. "Blaise – as you well know you are gorgeous and you're in great shape. Gods – no wonder people think we're gay." He pulled a hand down his face.  
"No – much as I cherish our friendship – I'm just not into guys. And neither are you, as should be plainly obvious to everyone."

Blaise shrugged. "Sorry – I don't know what got into me. But you have to admit, we spend a lot of time together. And we haven't really been seen with any chicks recently. Most of the time that we spend with Pansy and Daphne is when we sneak around after hours. And I know I haven't done anything with any of the girls for weeks – not this term at all in fact. You?"

Draco shook his head. He'd just been having so much fun messing about, that he hadn't really missed his intimate moments. Now he thought about it, none of the girls really interested him anymore. Most of them were too clingy or whiny (or both) and the few that had any appeal before (mainly Pansy, Daphne and a couple of other more classy Slytherins) had turned out to be good fun as friends and a whole lot less hassle…

Zabini started them walking again, the gravel crunching loudly under their expensive footwear. "Well what Daphne said decided it for me. I'm going with Chloe to Hogsmeade – I really do like what I've seen of her so far, and at least then people will know the rumours are untrue and we do still like girls. I'd take a bird too if I were you. Although don't bother asking Greengrass."

"Why not?"

Blaise waggled his thick black eyebrows, "Apparently our little scheme last night worked extremely well. McMillan was caught with his pants down this morning. Abbot freaked out so much at being found in her underwear that she ditched him and is lying low."

Draco laughed out loud at the thought. Once his chuckles had petered out, he said. "Well what does that have to do with Daphne?"

Pulling a rather strange face, Zabini replied. "She's going after McMillan now – According to the onlookers, his 'display' – which was also stuck in place - was very impressive."

"So what? So is mine."

"I know man – I wish I didn't but I do. And so does Daph. But she wants more than just a one night stand – she wants some commitment."

Malfoy shuddered. "Fair enough, I'll ask Pansy tonight. C'mon lets go get a drink - a manly one, maybe some ale and a few firewhiskeys."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"I'm really sorry D, but I just can't. You and me… and Blaise – well, we will always be best mates, you know that. But the days where we fool around are over. The whole time boys think I'm with you, they won't come near me. No, I'm sorry but I'm staying clearly on the market until some rich, handsome young wizard comes and sweeps me off my feet."

Draco pouted; something he seemed to be doing with increasing regularity. "I'm rich, I'm handsome, I can sweep – see…" He scooped Pansy off the floor in one fluid motion.

Giggling, Parkinson swiped at his hands. "Put me down silly. I know you're all those things – you're wonderful and I didn't mean to dent your ego. But I want some commitment."  
Seeing the look on Malfoy's face she added. "I don't mean that I want a proposal or anything – Merlin I'm only seventeen! But a nice steady relationship would make a pleasant change."

Draco was flummoxed; he dragged his hand through his platinum locks in despair. All the girls seemed to want steady relationships – what was the world coming to?

Pansy touched his arm gently. "It wouldn't kill you to try it either… don't look at me like that, you never know what might happen if you meet the right girl."

Malfoy sighed loudly. "Never gonna happen Pans – but I appreciate your decision. I'll have to think of something else… By the way, did you hear a rumour about Blaise and me…?"

"Being together? Yeah, it's been going round for a while now but everyone was too scared to ask you if it was for real."

"Why didn't you stop it?" Draco wondered if his oldest friend had misjudged him. "You… _you_ knew it wasn't true didn't you?"

Pansy looked at him as if he were an imbecile. "Of course I did you dolt – but it was _so_ much fun… All of the guys were thrilled that you might finally lay off the girls… And the girls; well they all decided that you _had_ to be bi, so they were all talking about a Draco-Blaise sandwich… They never could make their minds up which of you they wanted to try first… Not that any of them are up to either of your standards."

"I did wonder at some of the comments I've been getting lately." Draco paused for a moment. "Nope – it's tempting but I just couldn't bring myself to be that close to a naked guy… not even Blaise. What if I went to grab the girl and… touched the wrong person?"

Pansy waved her hand dismissively, not quite understanding his issue (Having had lots of fun experiences with Daphne, she didn't really see what the problem was – weren't teenagers _supposed_ to experiment?)  
"What about after Quiddich matches? You guys all get in the showers together and then run around whipping each other with towels and stuff. I've seen."

"That's totally different… What do you mean you've seen?"

Pansy smirked and gave a little wink. "I've got to go sweetie, Daph's gone to get Ernie to ask her out and I've got to go to make sure the other girls all know to lay off him."  
She sauntered off leaving Draco standing alone and confused.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

By Tuesday, Draco was feeling much better. He'd managed to convince not one, but two sixth year girls to accompany him into Hogsmeade that Saturday and both he and Blaise had made an effort to show just how straight they were. Mainly by bragging about women that they'd been with in the past and discussing what they considered manly subjects… such as how drunk they got that weekend, how much food they could eat and how much it made them belch... (Not that either of them would actually ever dream of burping in public, they were brought up to have good manners or Merlin help them.)

He had also been researching into the spells he had seen Longbottom use in the Herbology greenhouse. Much as he hated to admit it, Draco was impressed. There were some really tricky hexes and jinx to defend against – but he was confident that with a little practise he could memorise all the counter spells.

It was about an hour before dinner that night and Draco was sitting at his favourite table in the library. It was a small secluded table situated under a beautiful stained glass window which depicted a scene of the castle at sunset on a winter's day. Draco sometimes just sat and stared at the yellows and oranges of fires flickering softly through some of the windows and the owls which came to roost in the owlery (this was a magic stained glass window after all).

He had just flipped through a rather unhelpful book about Herbology spells (he'd read most of the decent ones yesterday but he was a very thorough young man) and considering doing some homework when the library door opened. Malfoy mentally cursed whomever it was coming in. He knew full well that his was the last empty table and he didn't want to be disturbed. If he glowered at whoever it was, maybe they'd go away…

Looking up he saw the cause of Zabini's latest madness… Chloe Middleton. She was walking along with that gigantic cousin of hers who appeared to be arm in arm with none other than Neville Longbottom.  
Draco thought he was meant to be with the Weaslette, maybe they'd broken up… But no, there she was following behind them - not looking in the slightest bit upset. In fact, she looked like she was having a wonderful time. Perhaps he'd been mistaken about what he saw…

Longbottom looked up and caught Draco glaring at them. Noticing that his was the only free table, Neville turned to his friends and said;  
"You know what – it's a little crowded in here for me, I think I'm going to do my homework in the common room."

The Attleby girl immediately said she would join him but Weasley said she needed to look up some stuff so she'd have to see them at dinner.

"I'll stay with Ginny." Chloe said, hugging the couple goodbye and looking extremely happy with life (Blaise had told her Monday morning that he had been able to get out of the (fake) meeting with Snape)  
"Look, there's room on Draco's table – Hey Draco!" she said, waving at him as if they were old friends.

The she-Weasel's eyebrows nearly hit the ceiling. She pulled Chloe to the care of magical animals section where she was certain Malfoy couldn't hear them (he could… Over the generations, Malfoy's had developed wonderful hearing…) and hissed, "You're on first name terms with the ferr- with Malfoy? When did this happen"

Chloe looked confused. "Blaise introduced us on Sunday. Is there a problem, do you guys not get along?"

"Understatement of the century Chloe. I _hate_ him and I'm sure he feels the same about me. He's so rude to Ron, Harry, Hermione and especially Neville... He's prejudiced and haughty and a million other bad things.  
And what do you mean 'Blaise introduced us'… You mean as in Blaise Zabini – He's almost as bad… What's with you and the Slytherins?"

"Oh…" that had been the Middleton bird. "They seemed really nice to me, especially Blaise… Are you sure that they're really as bad as you say they are."

"They are – if they were nice to you it was probably some sort of plot to ridicule the 'new girl'… Don't go near them if you can avoid it and let me know if they hassle you. I won't let them make an example of you." The girl sure sounded angry, Draco was getting annoyed at being talked so badly about...

"I was meant to be- We were going to… well, I guess it doesn't matter now, if it was all joke to him anyway…" Chloe sounded quite defeated.

Enough was enough. While Draco wasn't at all happy with Blaise's choice of woman, he sure as hell wasn't going to sit around and listen to someone else take that choice away from him.  
Standing up he whisked round the corner, making both girls jump. Weasley looked mad at him but Chloe could barely meet his eye.

"Ladies…" He gave them a bow, making it as low as possible to show respect.  
"Chloe, I saw you come in – there's room at my table if you want to join me – your friend can come too if she likes."

"I do not like." Weasley said loudly. "I wouldn't sit with you if you had the last seat in here." Middleton looked shocked at the outburst and murmured her friends name quietly as if to ask what she was playing at.

"Which, as a matter of fact I do." Smiled Malfoy, being careful not to smirk or be too disrespectful. He turned again to Chloe, "It really would be a pleasure to have you join me."

Again the red-head butted in, this time standing in front of Middleton girl in a manner that would have annoyed Draco had it been done to him. "She doesn't want to sit with you either Malfoy. What are you playing at?"

Draco tried to give her his most pleasant look of mild confusion (as a younger boy, Draco had practised pulling faces in the mirror until he had them perfect. It wasn't something he tended to do anymore, but they still occasionally came in useful) and said,  
"I'm not playing at anything Ginevra. I merely wanted to do a good deed and share my table. It would appear that you are the one playing games. I know that Chloe was eager to sit with me when you both entered; yet in the two minutes she has spent in here with you, she seems to have changed her mind - if your answer is to be believed. Why not let Chloe speak for herself?"

He was pleased to see the girl flinch when he addressed her by her full name. Middleton glanced up at him and he could see how sad she looked. He almost felt bad for coming over, but then she'd been happy when she walked in – it was the Weasley girl who had ruined her day by talking about Slytherins as if they were monsters.

For the third time, Weasley spoke before Chloe had a chance; she poked her finger in his solar plexus and said forcefully. "Stay away from her. I know you and I know you do _nothing_ nice. I don't know what sort of plan you and Zabini have cooked up for her but I'm not going to let you get away with it. Your bullying days are over."

Chloe gasped at her friend's behaviour. "Ginny!" She said out loud, but those chocolate brown eyes continued to glare fiercely into Malfoy's storny grey ones…

Draco very calmly looked down at her finger, which was digging in so far it was beginning to become painful. "Whom have I bullied this year?" He asked.

After she had floundered for a while, she finally managed, "My brother – you probably knew he couldn't do non-verbal spells and you used that against him in the duel."

Draco raised his eyebrow; even Middleton looked a little embarrassed. "By your standards Granger and Longbottom are also bullies. Neither of their opponents was capable of defending against the spells they used, especially Longbottom's. I'm sorry but I haven't been the spoiled little brat you seem to think I am for a very long time."

Now he decided to go in for the kill. "Just because there have been some bad Slytherins in the past, that does _not_ mean we all have to follow in their footsteps, and I would appreciate it if you could avoid tainting Chloe's perception of me with your prejudices. Especially as I have a feeling I will be seeing a lot of her if Blaise has his way."

Weasley stared at him with her mouth open, realising she was still poking him in the chest she whipped her hand behind her back. Chloe looked at Draco shyly and asked what he meant about Blaise.

"Well I shouldn't really be saying this – it's not my place. But he seems to really like you and wants to get to know you better. There is an age-old rivalry between our two houses but he is willing to overlook that, for you.  
I swear on my mother's life that he has no ill intentions towards you… There was no alternative motivation for him talking to you before your sorting, and he is extremely happy that he will be able to accompany you to Hogsmeade."

Middleton looked overjoyed but Weasley was still doubtful. "Look, if you don't trust me then I'll escort you to Snape's Office and you can get some veritaserum – I'll convince him it's for something vitally important…"

Draco paused, waiting to see the Weaslette's reaction. She thought hard for a short while and then shook her head. He nodded in return and then turned to Chloe.

"So, will you join me?"

Chloe looked to Ginny, who just shrugged, so she said in a loud voice laced with determination, "Thank you Draco, we will _both_ join you in just a moment."

This time Malfoy didn't bother to listen in on the girls conversation; he had done what he set out to do, Weasley was unsure of his character and Middleton would undoubtedly do all she could to defend her interests in Blaise.  
His only problem now, was that he would be lumbered sitting with a couple of boring, goody two shoes Gryffindors. It wouldn't do much for his reputation.  
If anyone said anything he'd have to make something up… although, would anyone say anything? They were all too scared to approach him about the last rumour so maybe he'd be ok… And they were both Gryffindor _girls_, attractive ones too… perhaps it wasn't the worst situation in the world.

When the girls finally came over to the table (Weasley clinging to a book and some parchment as if her life depended on keeping it safe) there seemed to be a truce between them.  
Chloe smiled warmly at him (Weasley just about managed not to grimace at him) and then she spread some parchment on the table and scribbled away merrily.

Weasley however was staring suspiciously at the Herbology book on the table; Malfoy imagined that she would recognise the fact that it wasn't an ordinary homework book and only focused on spells which were related to the subject.

Several curse words sprung to Draco's mind; He couldn't let her cotton on to the fact that he had seen Longbottom, or it would ruin all the hard work he'd just put in, and mean that his being nice to a couple of Gryffs had been a totally pointless move. But he was unsure what he should do about it…  
He figured that a double bluff and a bit of flattery should work wonders.

"I've been reading up on that Spell your friend Neville cast against Goldstein, it was very impressive. To be honest I'm a little concerned that I may have to face him in the next heat; I can't quite seem to get my head round the type of spells he's using…"  
Luckily enough, there had only been one useful book which had contained all of the spells he had seen Neville perform, and that had been from the restricted section, so it was unlikely his little white lie would be found out… Not until it was too late anyway.

"So… you're scared of Neville?" Weasley asked dubiously. "More so than Harry or Hermione – why aren't you researching them?"

While Malfoy had been happy with his small lie, this was getting a bit much. Did this bird never give up?  
"I wouldn't say scared exactly – it's not as if Longbottom's going to kill me or anything, but I'm competitive and he seems a worthy opponent. I'd be a fool not to prepare myself. As for the other two… Well, Granger probably has every single spell known to wizard-kind memorised so I'll just have to do my best there. And Potter? Well, he normally only uses Expelliarmus."

Weasley huffed somewhat at this – still pining for him maybe?

"It's true you know – I'm amazed Smith wasn't expecting it… but then again he's got his head so far up his own arse I'm amazed he can hear anything that goes on around him."  
Wow – the she-weasel almost cracked a smile, her mouth had certainly twitched up at the side anyway…

"And while I'm sure Potter will make an exception for me and fight properly, my first six years of Hogwarts were like a preparation for duelling with him."

"Yes, and more often than not you lost those..." Weasley seemed triumphant to point that out; and the Gryffindors said the Slytherins were evil?

"Then I guess he has nothing to worry about does he..." Draco said, liking the situation less and less.  
He'd show her though, when he beat Harry. Bloody. Potter. and won the competition. Noticing that she was still clutching a roll of parchment tightly to her chest, he decided it was the best excuse he'd have to leave.  
"Look, I can see you're obviously not comfortable sitting with me; I'm done reading anyway, so why don't I leave you two alone."

Without giving them the chance to answer, he scooped his work up from the table, pushed it into his bag and then gracefully shrugged on his school robe (designer made of course), buttoning it up over his perfectly pressed shirt which was a vivid white, contrasting against the dark green and silver of his tie.

He held his hand out to shake Middleton's (he figured after Blaise's reaction last time, He'd better not try and kiss it) "Chloe, I hope you have a wonderful time on Saturday, perhaps we can all meet up for lunch, if you would like that?"

She smiled as they shook and gave his hand an extra little squeeze before letting go. "That sounds lovely, I'm sure Blaise will like the idea."

The girl Weasley looked sly and then piped up. "Yes, it does sound like a great idea – let us know what time and we'll all meet up."

Middleton and Draco both looked utterly confused. "But I thought you couldn't make it Ginny?" Chloe asked.

"Well, Maria and I do have quite a bit to do, but Nev's taking her somewhere for a surprise lunch, so I'll be at a loose end for a few hours. I mean, if you don't want me to come that's fine..."

Malfoy's jaw almost dropped at the sneakiness of the girl, surely Chloe would see through such an act?

"No! Of course Ginny, I'd love for you to come." She didn't see through it – she fell for it, hook, line and sinker.

The little Weasel rubbed it in some more, "I wouldn't want to ruin your date though?"  
Surely this girl should have been in Slytherin, or at least Ravenclaw, guilt-tripping did require brains too...

Chloe blushed slightly. "It's not officially a date yet – plus Malfoy will be coming – Oh, we could make it a double date?"

"No!" "NO..." Malfoy and Weasley chimed together in perfect harmony.

"Awwww, why not you guys?" Teased Chloe; looking like she was enjoying herself immensely.

Malfoy jumped in straight away with his legitimate excuse. "I'm already escorting someone... two some ones really... So, we should get a table for... Seven? Will you be bringing someone Ginevra?"  
Gods he enjoyed causing the slight frown she got when he said her name like that.

She stared at him for long enough to make most men uncomfortable (not a Malfoy though, well, they wouldn't show it anyway)  
"Nope, just li'll ole me; table for six, though Merlin only knows why you need _two_ dates Malfoy. And if you do insist upon using my name as opposed to those _adorable _little nick-names you coined for me – stick with Ginny, 'kay?"

"Oh but Ginevra is such a becoming name." (She pulled a face and gripped her wand a little too tightly for his liking.) "Fine, Ginny then. But why no companion? Pansy tells me you have quite the fan club..." He smiled winningly.

Weasley (Ginny... Hmm) wasn't amused, and with an obviously fake smile plastered across her freckly face, said; "I have several wonderful male friends, and while I'm sure there's plenty of magnificent relationship material round here, not a single boy in this school interests me in that way." The smile faded and she was deadly serious. "I'd rather go on my own than lead someone on."

Malfoy wondered if the comment was directed at him, or if she were merely telling it how it was... However, he wasn't entirely sure he cared. He was far too depressed at the thought of having to spend his Saturday lunch time with these two when he could be round the back of the Shrieking Shack with... what were those girls' names?  
Never mind, it'd keep Blaise happy and Draco owed him a few favours. The Shrieking Shack could wait until after lunch.

He made a polite goodbye and went to catch twenty minutes snooze before dinner; talking to the two Gryffindors so politely all that time had mentally worn him out. Hopefully Zabini would get his fill and move on so things could get back to (relative) normality.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**So I used Weaslette and she-weasel etc a lot in that chapter instead of using Ginny – I was trying to keep it from Draco's perspective but if you feel it's weird then I can alter a few of them… As they get better acquainted it will change anyway but let me know what you think…**

**Oh, and I haven't checked through this chapter as many times as I normally do (I know I'm not going to be able to work on it tonight or much tomorrow and I wanted to get it out.)  
If you spot and bloopers, please just let me know and I'll change them. Ta!**

**Next chapter's back to Ginny. xx**


	5. A total mess

**Erm, rude word ahead (not the 'c' word though. That's just naughty... the 'f' word!!)  
Not sure if this is the acceptable rating for it – it's not excessive or anything... but anyway, you have been duly warned!**

**Sorry it's been a while – I've not been feeling too great (I had a bad headache for about 4 days which was making me feel really woozy!) and have also been rushed off my feet (not a good combination!) but anyway here it is...**

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ginny sat on her four poster bed later that night (somewhat smaller than the ones Blaise and Draco had) with the rich red and gold curtains pulled round, giving her some privacy.  
She had almost finished the latest chapter of Robyn's tale (even though she wasn't due to 'lose it' until that Sunday), but instead of the usual euphoria she felt, there was a vague sense of unease. Something felt wrong and she just couldn't get her head around it; she'd tried to re-write the chapter several times but it just didn't sit right with her.

It was that bloody Malfoy messing up her head, she was sure of it. Making up all that rubbish just to win Chloe over. Ginny doubted very much that the Ferret had given up his table just for the sake of a couple of Gryffindors, even if his friend had apparently taken an interest in Chloe (at first she had thought that maybe _Malfoy_ was interested in Chloe, which for some reason had worried Ginny a lot).

No, Malfoy was definitely up to something, along with his good friend Blaise Zabini by the sound of things.  
She'd heard rumours of the two boys being 'exceptionally close' but she'd never _really_ believed them – her brother Percy and her school friend Colin Creevey were gay; when she'd asked Colin about the gossip (just out of curiosity you understand), he'd replied quite simply "No, but don't I wish it were true!"

As she slouched on her bed, picking idly at the gold threads in the hangings, Ginny gave up on fixing the chapter and instead thought back to the strange happenings in the library.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ginny had been expecting snide remarks when Malfoy had walked up to them, but he had been extremely pleasant which made her suspicious. She was shocked to say the least when Malfoy had said that his best buddy was taking Chloe to Hogsmeade that weekend. She'd certainly kept _that_ quiet.

But as Chloe had explained (after Malfoy had gone back to his table, waiting for them to join him because Chloe had agreed to it.), when you live in a community as small as the one her family had moved into, there was no need to tell anyone anything. You were either super secretive or people knew everything before you could blink.  
As she'd asked 'Blaise' to Hogsmeade (and not the other way round!) in a public place, Chloe had assumed that everyone knew about it and they just weren't very interested.

When Ginny informed her that anyone who found out about it would be extremely interested, Chloe seemed surprised.  
"I didn't realise it would be such a big deal. I guess it _was_ pretty early and there weren't many people around, they were all still in the Great Hall I suppose…"

"Look, regardless of who knows and who doesn't - you agreed to go to Hogsmeade with Zabini. No – _you_ asked _him_ to go… Are you mad?" Ginny asked Chloe; she sounded confident in her outrage, despite feeling very unsure about the conversation that had just gone on with Malfoy.

Chloe frowned at her, and Ginny knew that her new friend was very disappointed in her behaviour. Although Malfoy was a giant prat, Ginny felt bad that Chloe wasn't happy. She hadn't wanted to make Chloe sad, but Ginny was genuinely worried about what might happen. After all, she didn't have too great a track record with Slytherins.

"Ginny, I know you said that you've never really got on well with the Slytherins, but are you sure that it's not because you just haven't given them a chance?"

"They don't deserve a chance." Ginny said in a small tone, sounding to herself a little like a petulant child and wondering if maybe she was over-reacting a little bit. (_Oh my god I'm Ron…_)

Chloe sighed. "You know that's not fair. If you really felt like that then you _would_ be prejudiced, and I honestly don't think you're that sort of person or Maria wouldn't have spoken so highly about you.  
Myself, I don't get all this extreme rivalry business between Gryffindor and Slytherin – I mean I can understand wanting to win the house cup and having pride in your team as such, and I think that's what the other two houses are like. But hating a whole group of people just because they got sorted into a house that produced a few bad guys? That's just ridiculous – why would Dumbledore keep the house going if they were all going to turn out rotten?"

"Well, ok – they aren't _all _as bad as Slytherin himself. I s'pose some of them might be ok."

"Wow – looks like we've got a breakthrough in class." Chloe giggled, looking a lot happier. "Gin, I'm really glad that we're friends and I think you're wonderful. Please can you just try and be happy for me? Blaise seemed like a perfect gentleman, well apart from being a _huge_ flirt but I kinda like that about him! If I promise to keep my wits about me then will you lighten up a little?"

Completely unsure what she should do, Ginny stayed silent for a moment, thinking things over (and pulling faces while she thought, although she didn't realise she was doing so.)  
"OK, I'll try to ease off. It's not really my place to tell you what to do anyway – I know I hate it when Ron tries to do that to me.  
Plus, I guess I have let a past experience taint my views of that house somewhat. And yes, Malfoy did used to be a royal pain in the arse - but he _was_ telling the truth when he said he hasn't really been bullying anyone this year. Maybe he finally grew up or something... Who knows?  
I can't say I'll ever like Malfoy, but as I don't really know Zabini well enough to judge him I guess I'll have to trust your judgement. Just please promise to be careful?"

"Of course I will be. You can teach me a few defensive spells anyway if you want. They're always handy to know! Now come on – we've kept Draco waiting long enough."

Ginny let Chloe lead her back to the table, the two girls in reversed positions to when she had hauled them to get away from Malfoy in the first place. "Fine – but I'm not calling him Draco…"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Throughout dinner, Ginny couldn't help but peek over at the Slytherin table every now and again. She had come in before Malfoy and Zabini; when the two boys walked in Malfoy was talking hurriedly, just before they sat down he had said something which made Zabini look over and scan the Gryffindor table until he spotted Chloe.

Chloe had waved at them and grinned when Zabini gave her a nod and a smile back. There were a few murmurs from her table and a couple of shocked looks from the Slytherin end (which were ignored by Zabini, Ginny felt sure that he'd 'evil glare' them into submission but he didn't seem to care…) but neither of the other two houses had really seemed to care that much. Luckily enough Ron, Harry and Hermione had been late for dinner and missed the whole thing – now there were some people who were really against the Slytherins – each and every one.

At one point, Malfoy caught Ginny looking at them. He'd raised an eyebrow and looked as if he were about to sneer at her, but instead he gave a barely perceptible nod and resumed eating (perfectly, as if he'd do anything less – he probably brought his own cutlery to dinner.) So Ginny tried to concentrate on her food and housemates a little more.

Maria and Neville were being 'cutesy'. Ginny was glad that she'd finally convinced Neville to take a chance on Maria; it had been obvious (to Ginny at least) that they would make a wonderful couple. Maria, being extremely boisterous, was likely to bring Neville out of his shell (but would never make him do anything he was uncomfortable with... although she may occasionally convince him that he actually _wanted_ to do whatever it was he felt uncomfortable doing!) and Neville would give Maria all the love and attention she deserved - not because of her giant boobs, but for her loving and giving personality.

However happy Ginny felt for the couple, she kind of wished they were a little less open with their affections when they were sitting right next to her – who'd have thought that Neville would be happily sitting at dinner ignoring the food and snogging a girl... nobody, or so it would seem from ever increasing stares. Maybe looking at Malfoy had been preferable.

She turned to her other side and noticed Chloe was chatting happily to Colin, who was giving her tips on how to best pose for portraits and offering to take her picture for her. Ginny smiled, Colin adored photography and could talk for hours about the subject; at the moment he was rifling through a bag of photos to show Chloe some of his work.  
He seemed to be searching for something important, she could hear him muttering but all she could see was his once mousy brown hair (which was now a very gorgeous honey-blond colour thanks to his little brother Dennis Creevey, who had decided he wanted to be a hairdresser... he claimed it was the very best way to get girls!)

"There… Make sure no-one else sees it though, I'm not meant to show this one around."

Ginny's ears perked up and she immediately said in a threatening tone. "Colin..."

She was greeted with a look of fake innocence from the photographic expert. "What, Ginny my dear?"

"Don't you 'my dear' me. Is that what I think it is?" Colin pulled an ever so slightly apologetic face when he saw Ginny's nostrils flare.

"Oh Ginny," Chloe gushed. "It's fantastic – I mean you're gorgeous anyway but this is truly awe-inspiring. Colin, it's like you've shown her personality as well as her physical self."

"Oh fuck off... Not you Chloe." The curse was in fact directed at the huge smirk residing on Colin's face.  
The photo was of a nearly naked Ginny – Colin had begged and pleaded with her to pose for him. He needed pictures for his portfolio (he wanted to get a summer job as an intern with a very good photographic company, they only took on one person a year and had thousands of applications) but he couldn't get a woman to do life modelling for him; one of his male friends had agreed but apparently companies like to see portfolios with mixed gender pictures.

So, very reluctantly, Ginny had agreed to help out. She wasn't _ashamed _of her body exactly; it just was what it was. Nothing exciting - boobs, bum etc… she wasn't exactly amazingly toned or super-slim. While she felt ok with herself, she hadn't felt very comfortable with posing with no clothes on; despite Colin telling her she looked gorgeous. ("I bet you'll say that to all your models.")

So instead of a fully nude photo session, Colin had suggested that they snap some arty pictures with some sheer fabrics draped in all the right places. He said that the results had been breathtaking, but Ginny was very insecure about them (although a tiny little part of her felt incredibly brave and risqué and had a copy of them hidden at the bottom of her trunk.)

There was one picture in particular which Ginny had been forced to agree was an amazing piece of art. ("You must have worked your magic because it's ok. I don't hate that one...") In actual fact Colin hadn't changed the photo at all, he admitted to using some clever lighting but every photographer did that as basics.

The picture in question had been taken near the end of the session, Ginny had finally relaxed and was laughing at some joke Colin had made about Dennis begging to be let in on the session (held in a converted garage with a very big lock which was sold with inbuilt spells).  
Colin hadn't missed the opportunity and had snapped away with his cameras (one muggle, one wizarding) as Ginny giggled.

In the still picture that Chloe was looking at, Ginny was lying on her back on an off-white sofa and had her head thrown back over the arm-rest, meaning that her neck was elongated. Her creamy white skin (which was only just discernable from the pale background) was covered by nothing more than her scattering of freckles and a few silk scarves in iridescent greens and metallic hues; some skimmed the curves of her breasts, and more wound round her legs and lay covering her hips - hiding the fact that Ginny had insisted on wearing her teeny tiny pants ("Honestly Gin, they're so small I doubt anyone could tell the difference").

The most striking part of the picture was her face and hair, her smile was beautiful and her eyes shone with unshed tears of laughter. Colin had told Ginny to take her hair down; because she had been wearing it in a bun all day there were kinks and waves, but he refused to let her spell it straight again.  
In the picture it was streaming down the side of the white sofa, reflecting the different hues of light in the studio which made it gleam like a river of fire.

This was the picture which won Colin his internship, although the men in the panel liked the moving version almost as much (when Ginny laughed in that picture, the scarves slipped slightly, causing the viewer to wonder if they might see something that they weren't supposed to.)

"Please put it away Col… you know I only posed for you on the agreement you wouldn't show the pictures around."

Colin shrugged. "Sorry babe. I just thought you and Chloe were friends – I didn't think you'd mind."

Ginny gave him a look, she knew what he was trying to do and wasn't about to fall for it… "Chloe and I _are_ friends, and while I don't really mind her seeing them – it's a bit embarrassing. But that's not really the issue at hand, you_ promised _not to show them, regardless of whom to… and _what the hell_ are you doing with those photos in your bag anyway? What if you got mugged or left your bag somewhere?"

Colin had assured her that he had all manner of protection on the pictures; anyone who looked at them without his personal permission would merely see a blank page and get their fingers stained purple for a week. This had calmed Ginny down somewhat and the rest of dinner passed in a happy chatter way.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ginny's reverie was broken by a loud voice saying. "Knock, knock…"

She quickly fixed the golden threads that had been subject to her fidgety fingers and pulled the curtain back. "Hey Maria, what's up?"

"Well, the ceiling is up… then the sky... Sorry, bad joke. Chloe and I were just a bit bored and I figured you'd had enough time skulking in here on your own."

"I was not skulking…" Checking quickly that their three other room mates were out of the room, Ginny told Maria that she'd been working on the latest chapter.

"Ooh, how's it going?"

"Not good – there's this whole scene where Matthew has captured Robyn and I just can't figure out where to go from there. I thought I had the story pretty much panned out but it all seems so childish now I think about it."

Chloe poked her head round the door just then and asked if Maria had got Ginny to think up something to do. When Maria said that Ginny needed some help with her story, Chloe came and sat on the edge of Maria's bed (the one next to Ginny's – Chloe's bed was on the other side of Maria's, in the corner) and offered whatever assistance she could give, assuring Ginny that she was now totally up to speed with the tale.

The three of them discussed what had happened so far - _Robyn was being courted by Jonathan, a valiant young man who had just won his knight-ship. He was rather shy (although Maria said that some of the time he just seemed a bit distant) so the relationship between the two of them hadn't progressed very far._

_There was a growing threat from a group of dark knights called Mort Subite who wanted to take over the kingdom. Jonathan and Matthew - another new knight with a very suspicious background – had undertaken the quest given to them by the king, to travel to the dark knight's camp (which was well hidden in the midst of a dark and dangerous forest surrounded by mountains), spy on the group and learn anything they could to help defeat them._

_Robyn had joined them disguised as a squire (called Robin… as in all romance stories, the two men didn't figure it out), she had cut and dyed her hair so as not to be recognised, taken some of her older brother's clothes and strapped down her bosom.  
Both of her parents had been killed by the Mort Subite several years ago and her brother was fighting in the war against the troll-like Cragmaws, so nobody had missed her and raised the alarm.  
The trio had travelled far and overcome many obstacles to reach their destination, with 'Robin' solving their problems on more than one occasion._

_However at the end of the last chapter, Matthew had discovered her identity when she had been bathing in the lake (the two young men were both supposed to be scouting out the camp and had told 'Robin' to stay behind) and had hauled her off to a nearby woodcutter's cottage, (one of many properties owned by the extremely wealthy young knight's family) where he had enchanted the house not to let her leave or others to enter.  
Matthew told her that it was for her own good, but Robyn suspected that he was actually a member of the Mort Subite and was keeping her there so she couldn't warn Jonathan (who was still oblivious to everything)._

That was where Ginny was stumped. Originally she was going to have Jonathan break the enchantments and rescue Robyn, foil Matthew's dastardly plan, save the day and win the girl. But now she felt that it all seemed a bit too simple and clichéd.

"Well why don't you have Matthew turn out to be a good guy but kind of like an anti hero? He can confess that he is actually also in love with Robyn and doesn't want her to get hurt which is why he imprisoned her, but in the end he lets her go free as he can't bear to be a captor to her...  
You can still choose to have her end up with Jonathan if you like, but it will make it all a bit juicier. You can delve into Matthew's sordid past and then have the three of them band together and fight side-by side in the end. Who wants a wimpy heroine these days?"

Ginny's jaw fell at Maria's suggestion, Chloe was nodding appreciatively. "Who knew you had such creativity Maz! Although I'd stick with Matthew, he sounds scrummy… all dark and brooding personality, but he's probably got a heart of gold inside…"

Maria laughed. "Not my creativity I'm afraid. It's just bits and pieces put together from all the people that have had theories on the story – one person says something, another something else. I just moulded together some of the better ideas. Well Ginny – what do you say?"

"Well, it does sound more interesting than my original idea, although she should definitely end up with Jonathan. He's 'the one' – her hero you know… but we could give Matthew a tragic childhood or something, all that money but it can't buy him happiness…  
I'm not sure how he would talk now though. I mean the cheesy lines were fine when he was going to be an arse the whole way through, but I'd like him to be a bit more complex and mature. I need to create him a personality and a reason for being a complete git half the time… that's going to be tricky."

"How about we all think about it, make some notes and then re-group Saturday morning before the others get up? Then you're going to help me choose what to wear to Hogsmeade…" Chloe suggested. "But for now, let's go have some fun… makeovers?"

All three girls were soon immersed in wizarding make-up, hair charming products and stacks of Teen-Witch weekly's.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Saturday morning was a bright, crisp day. There were no clouds in the sky, but it was bitingly cold and the wind whistled round the Gryffindor tower in an unsettling way, which made staying there seem all the more exciting. (Although during a thunderstorm in her third year, Hermione had informed Ginny that the towers were all extremely safe, "the magic protecting them from weather damage and erosion has held for hundreds of years so why should it fail now?".)

The three girls were crammed together in the large common room window seat; they sat in their pyjamas with their blankets still wrapped tightly round them and their backs against the thick glass panes of the window. Maria, always a very early riser, had sneaked down to the kitchens earlier and the house elves had kindly given her some piping hot chocolate drinks to keep them warm while they were waiting for the fires to be lit (students were not allowed to light the fires themselves, either by magic or the muggle way, after a nasty incident which set half the Hufflepuff common room on fire.)

Nobody else was awake yet so the three were huddled together whispering quietly while Ginny scribbled down notes. "Chloe, you've got some really good ideas. I love the way you envision Matthew. Maybe you should write this!"

Chloe blushed slightly. "No don't be silly. I'm just giving you some real basic stuff and you're spinning it into a proper tale. Don't give me any credit what-so-ever."

Maria tucked a stray strand of her straight brown hair behind her ear and then chugged back the last of her hot chocolate. "Where did you get the inspiration Chloe?"

The dark haired girl shrugged. "Well I was in the library on Thursday re-reading one of the chapters for some inspiration – they're all available to borrow now, did you know? They have a tiny section with about ten copies of each chapter! How cool is that? Anyway - Blaise and Draco came in and saw me reading it;" (Ginny choked slightly on her drink at that point, but Maria, after patting Ginny's back for a moment, indicated that Chloe should continue).  
"Blaise and I started discussing the story and he said he might give it a go – said that he's always enjoyed reading and it seemed like a bit of fun. Anyway, Draco scoffed a bit and said that romance was a load of rubbish, so I explained to him that actually it was more of an adventure story with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. I told him about the dark knights attacking everyone and how the three escaped from the townsfolk of Kraam and after a while he seemed really interested."

Ginny looked completely horrified. "You didn't say anything about me did you?" she croaked, still not quite over her choking by chocolate.

"Of course not!" Chloe said quietly, shaking her head forcefully as if to demonstrate the point without volume.

"How come Malfoy spoke to you again anyway, did he belittle you or brag about his endless supplies of sweets from his mum? He didn't look at you as if you were crap?"

Chloe shook her head. "No! I've bumped into the two of them a few times this week and Draco seemed rather amused by my presence... I think he's only tolerating me for Blaise's sake but he was perfectly polite... You know, he's made a few snide comments about other people around us, but I felt like it was just a bit of a joke you know? It was nothing worse than I've heard the blokes in our house saying about people. I just figured he's a teenage boy, they can be prats sometimes...  
Anyway, on Thursday I asked Draco his opinion on Robyn's tale, he leafed through a few chapters and then he got really chatty about it. Blaise joined in too but Draco just seemed really animated. I asked them what they thought would happen and a lot of the stuff there is from Draco."

"You're shitting me? Malfoy came up with this stuff"

"Ginny you swear too much." Maria whispered with a big grin, knowing full well that six older brothers had given Ginny a slightly unladylike vocabulary (and a mean right hook amongst other things).  
"But anyway, why do you find it so hard to believe that he could be creative?"

"Pffft, This stuff is really deep, some of its really messed up stuff; no Malfoy could be that creative." As Ginny shook her head, a few strands of her red hair fell out of the messy bun she had pulled it back into the night before.

"I think you're right." Ginny and Maria both looked at Chloe in bewilderment.

"I'm sorry," Maria said. "Weren't you leading the campaign for him a moment ago – did I miss something? Do you have split personality disorder?"

"Maria – that's not nice. No, I think maybe some of that stuff he said is actually true, only I don't think Draco wanted me to realise... but the look on Blaise's face when he was saying some of the stuff? Well, I thought about it that night and all of yesterday, it's all I can come up with. I nearly didn't tell you but I thought..."

Ginny held a hand up to halt the conversation, "No... I'm sorry. You think Malfoy actually feels this way?" She held up the notes Chloe had written.  
"You think he's scared that he might turn into his father? Are you seriously suggesting that somewhere deep down he wants to be a hero? I just can't believe that."

Maria speculated. "Well... Malfoy has always had a huge issue with Harry, maybe he's jealous that Harry was born fated to be a hero while he was born into the Malfoy family. I mean sure, they lavished him with everything a boy could want materialistically; but emotionally?  
Regardless of how his parents may have treated him, it can't be easy growing up in a family stuck right in the middle of You-Know-Who's plans... I find it difficult to believe Malfoy senior could have made a good dad at the same time as being a deranged henchman."

Ginny wrinkled her nose at the mention of Lucius, she had big issues with that man... She had promised herself that her experiences that year wouldn't taint her views on the rest of the world, could she extend that ethos to Malfoy Junior? Unlikely...

"Ok, so you guys feel free to go ahead and believe it – if it's true then 'Yay Malfoy', but I'm not going to speculate over it... Why weren't you going to say anything though Chloe?"

"I'm not sure if he really meant to tell me so much. If you wrote about it then I'd feel like I betrayed him. But it fitted the character so perfectly and so many people are expecting the story that I thought maybe you could take the ideas and change them so it's not so obviously about Draco... or about what he said anyway..."

Ginny looked hard into her new-found friend's eyes. "You know what Chloe; you're one of a kind. I think you have the biggest heart ever. Sure, I'll tweak the stuff you gave me so I don't give you away, but I'm doing it for your sake, not Malfoy's... I just hope for your sake that your big heart doesn't get broken by those two."

"Well," Maria murmured, "the best way to ensure that is to make sure you look absolutely fabulous. Those lazy guys upstairs should be awake by now anyway – let's go get you ready for the big date!!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ginny was running late. Chloe had sent her an owl (Zabini's own owl in fact) to say that they had booked a table in the Three Broomsticks Inn at one o'clock. It was now ten past and she was still five minutes away.  
Curse Maria and her stupid ideas... They had been planning a secret event which would be similar to the Yule ball. It was partly a Christmas do, but mainly as a celebration party for the winner of the duelling competition; the final of which (as a happy coincidence) would be held just before they broke up.

Ginny felt certain that it would be Harry or Hermione that won (although Harry was still top of her list) but she hadn't said anything to either of them about her thoughts or the as-yet unannounced party; she thought they would be nervous about being given the trophy in front of so many people. Harry especially didn't like a fuss made over him.

Dumbledore had wanted a big event, he said it cheered the students and staff up, and showed that even in the darkest of times you should not let your spirit be crushed.  
Professor McGonagall had volunteered Maria to help her organise it knowing that she loved such things and was a fairly responsible girl (the Seventh years had far too much homework to be getting on with to be dallying with such things). Maria had agreed instantly and roped Ginny in to a huge plan for 'the best party ever'.

Today they had been making figures of Jack Frost, Snowmen, Snowwomen and Christmas elves (which Ginny insisted on commenting on several times. "They're nothing like real elves."). Maria decided that they were going to enchant them on the evening to dance about and throw fake snowballs at people (which would actually be made from glitter).

However, Neville had turned up earlier than expected and as neither girl wanted him to know about the ball (although Maria was hopeless and would probably let it slip) Maria had scarpered and left Ginny to finish off.  
The remaining stuff was tricky as it was really a two person job so by the time she'd finished, Ginny had no chance to get changed.

She had planned on turning up early, prepared to face the enemy (well, 'enemy' was a little exaggeration but it sounded better than 'people who might be a bit dodgy'…) looking clean and well groomed in one of the dresses Hermione had passed down to her, topped with the one and only pristine cloak she owned.  
Instead, Ginny was hot and sweaty from running to catch up on time (which had been pointless as she was still late) and wearing a pair of tatty faded jeans and an oversized brown cardigan. She had long ago lost the belt, so as she ran it flapped open to reveal her extremely old and thin white t-shirt (which for some reason had a grumpy looking cartoon donkey on the front... It had been a souvenir from Hermione's parents so Ginny assumed it was some sort of muggle thing. It _was_ cute…).

Also, she still had bits of glitter here and there that she just couldn't get rid of (even when you think it's gone, months later you'll find a bit hiding somewhere odd) and to top it all off her hair band had broken, it had pinged off into a pile of autumn leaves at the side of the path and she hadn't had the time to find it and repair it.

All in all, Ginny felt like a total mess, and she had to face Malfoy of all people. Why on earth did she get herself into these things? She did one last scourgify, performed a perfume spell and tried to rake her fingers through her thick hair. Giving it up as an impossible task, she wound it up messily and jabbed her wand through it to hold it in its rough bun.

Standing straight and tall, Ginny took a deep breath, offered up a quick prayer to any gods that may be listening, and pushed open the door to the Three Broomsticks.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Mort Subite means Sudden Death – it's also a brand of one of my fave drinks, Kriek (cherry beer) so it's kind of amusing to me that in Robyn's world, 'so-and-so' was attacked by the cherry beer lol!!  
Sorry – I'm odd, what can I say.**

**I really want to do a picture of Ginny's photo; I can picture it so clearly in my head…**

**I do actually know someone (although only vaguely) who is a trainee hairdresser and told his dad that it was a 'wicked way to meet birds'.  
He's about the same age Dennis would be too… now Dennis is him in my mind lol**

**I guess it's a popular thing as I also had a hairdresser once who seemed to brush his hand off the end of my hair and over my boobs a bit more than seemed necessary (he also told me that I had 'the most amazing eyes' and did I have an older sister...)  
I shocked him a little when I said I was getting married as he thought I was about 17!  
He did give me an amazing haircut though ;)**


	6. The Three Broomsticks Inn

**Sorry it's been a while – I got a little tied up with a Pansy pic (on my deviant art site – there's a link in my profile...) and Halloween costume buying! (Zombie pics will probably follow next week!)**

**This chapter is back to Draco! It was getting ****very**** long so I had to cut it - hopefully the rest will be long enough to fill a whole chapter or I'll have to split it half Draco half Ginny.**

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews for the previous chapter (well – I have 2 reviews at the moment but they were both very lovely!)**

**As I mentioned before, none of JKRs characters or settings belong to me – and neither does anything Disney related… **

**I think it may be sinful to like both Terry Pratchett and Disney - one fairly cynical view of the world (some would say realistic!) and one whimsical view (although they both love happy endings!)  
But it makes me happy (just don't tell Terry, he might disapprove of me…)**

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was bloody cold on Saturday morning, so Draco pulled his warmest cloak out of the wardrobe. He was looking forward to today; he was escorting two young ladies to Hogsmeade (keeping out of Blaise's way in the morning so he could "get to know Chloe better"), Draco thought that maybe they could visit a few of the shops where he would treat them both to a little something; then they would have lunch in The Three Broomsticks Inn. After that… well he was pretty much guaranteed some action.

He would have to try and be polite to the two Gryffindor girls who would be at the Inn - for Blaise's sake. But Draco was sure that his dates would let rip with a couple of acerbic comments – then he could look all shocked at their behaviour but have a good laugh afterwards…

Although the Middleton bird was actually not too bad, for a Gryff – they'd seen her a couple of times this week (Blaise's doing no doubt – he was really giving his all to this current interest.) and she'd not been too moronic… hell, she'd even given a small smile when he'd insulted a few of the younger students.  
She had a strange way of putting you at ease too, in a moment of madness (inspired by some stupid tale that had got him all worked up) Draco had found himself saying things that he'd only ever shared with Blaise… Although he'd been able to pass it off as relevant to the story and she'd said what wonderful ideas he had so that was OK.  
Maybe he'd ask his girls to lay off her, purely to spare any embarrassment to Zabini of course…

That Ginny Weasley was another matter though. She'd been eyeballing him all week, looking over at dinner times when she thought he wouldn't notice. Draco was desperate to give her a piece of his mind, or just a filthy look, but Zabini had been over the bloody moon after he'd heard about the whole fiasco in the library and kept telling Draco that he "owed him big time."  
Although he'd never admit it to anyone (not even himself) having Blaise happy was the main reason Draco bit his tongue when the she-weasel bothered him. Obviously having a favour owed to you was always a good thing so that enforced his lack of spitefulness towards her.

Before leaving the room, Draco considered his reflection in the mirror for a moment. He thought that he looked pretty fine, with his perfectly tailored clothes (charcoal grey trousers with a white granddad shirt and a casual grey zip up jacket over the top) his expertly cut hair and aristocratic features. The mirror agreed with him in her sultry voice, although he never trusted the damned thing; Malfoy felt sure that they just said nice things no matter what; after all, it had let him walk about with his hair slicked back for ages.

Draco strode purposefully through the castle until he got to the great hall. It was already quite busy in there but his space had, as always, been left unoccupied. Sitting down and pulling some waffles towards his plate, Draco glanced around casually. Neither of his dates was there, probably still getting ready for the Hogsmeade trip, and thankfully neither was the little Weasley. Maybe she was ill and couldn't make it today… although now he thought about it he felt sure she'd mentioned something about being busy that morning…

He shrugged and finished his food; once he was done, Draco rose, nodded to Pansy who was sitting further down the table (flirting shamelessly with any of the boys at the table), and walked at a leisurely pace to the main doors. He spotted the two girls he was looking for immediately; they were the two wearing next to nothing in the clothing department, yet enough lip-gloss between them to drown half the country. Perhaps he should have tried for a seventh year to date; at least Pansy had informed the girls in their year that Draco did not like them to look like trash. Maybe he'd just buy the two some nice new clothes and recommend that they wore them to lunch, then suggest that maybe a lip-stain spell would be more suited to their new outfits – that sort of thing had worked well in the past.

Throwing on his cloak (Black Angora and Puffskein Wool, lined with dark green silk and fastened with silver clasps inlaid with mother of pearl) Draco strutted up to where they were standing and smiled charmingly.  
"Melissa, Jennifer… I missed you at breakfast."

Both girls giggled and leaned into each other fluttering their eyelashes and flicking back their hair. Melissa, the slightly more sensible of the two, straightened first. "Jenni and I don't tend to go to breakfast often. They don't serve anything suitable for Jen's dietary requirements." She spoke with a very nasal tone which Draco hadn't noticed before.

"Right… well, do you two ladies want to get your cloaks so I can escort you to Hogsmeade?"

Again, they both giggled to each other. Jennifer piped up in a squeaky, baby voice. "Don't be a Silly-Billy – then you couldn't see our wovely clothes, we wore them special for you sweetie." She did a little turn so Draco could admire her outfit; there wasn't a lot to see, a miniscule bright orange skirt and a luminous green boob tube which barely covered her magically enhanced, extremely fake looking boobs. She had weird chunky heels on and a necklace with a peace sign on it, even though she probably didn't know what the symbol meant. In all, Jennifer looked like she was dressed to go clubbing on a very hot holiday, not to go winter shopping in a cold country!

"Me too." Said Melissa, also twirling round. Her outfit was slightly better, a pleated baby blue skirt and a little union jack strappy top, but she had on what Draco considered to be the strangest footwear he had ever seen… white, thigh high PVC boots which turned into massive trainers with a huge heel. The worst thing was the make-up; she had applied so much mascara it looked like spiders had taken up home where her eyes should be, and her face was plastered so thickly with foundation that it was almost orange (up to the very definite line where it stopped and her white neck started.).

Draco closed his eyes for a moment to try and forget the horror of these girls. They'd seemed alright in their uniforms with the minimal make-up the school allowed during the week. Still he was committed now.  
"Let's go shall we? I have a lovely day planned for us, full of shopping and fun…"

Both girls squealed appreciatively and grabbed an arm each. Draco grimaced a little when they couldn't see him, led them out into the grounds and started the walk towards Hogsmeade.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blaise raised his eyebrows when he saw Draco walk through the door to the Inn. He looked thoroughly annoyed about something, possibly the two monstrosities trailing after him. Zabini knew that a lot of the boys wanted to date these two girls but (knowing Draco's taste) they were probably a little crass for him. Malfoy removed his cloak and hung it on the row of cast iron pegs near the gigantic open fire. He glanced round quickly, noticing that the cosy and slightly smoky pub was only half full, although the large mirror reflected the patrons, making it seem busier.

Zabini waved to his friend who gratefully walked over to their large wooden table near the back of the Inn; Draco still had enough manners left to pull out the bench for his companions, but he did pull a face behind their backs. "Blaise, Chloe – I hope your day has been good. This is Melissa and this is Jennifer."

Chloe gave them a shy smile and Blaise nodded his hellos. "Ladies, how has Draco been treating you both?"

"Oooh, just wonderfully!" Simpered Melissa, flicking her blond extensions over her shoulder. "We've been into all the shops and he's ordered us whole new outfits. They were a little bit too snobby for my liking, but Draco assured us we would look delightful in them." She leant over the table and whispered loudly that she was hoping the posh clothes meant he would be taking them somewhere nice in the future.

Draco grimaced as he sat down. "Yes, unfortunately they won't be ready until later today – apparently they had nothing small enough in the shop to fit such slender ladies, so they're performing a rather complicated silk shrinking spell as we speak."

Both girls were indeed incredibly skinny, almost painfully so. Jennifer had been eyeing Chloe as if assessing her worth but she now stopped and cooed over Draco. "Yes, he was _so_ kind too, it's such a long walk from the school that we got all pooped out, so Dwakko summoned his big impressive bwoom and flew us here." As she spoke, Jenni walked her fingers up his arm and when she reached his face, stroked his ear a little.

"Perhaps you could choose slightly more appropriate footwear next time you come to Hogsmeade?" Draco suggested, his left eye twitching slightly as Jennifer tugged on his earlobe.

"You're so funny! Isn't he funny Mel?" Melissa nodded in agreement, murmuring how she was looking forward to next time already and stroking his thigh under the table. Blaise and Chloe found it extremely hard not to laugh when Draco stood rather quickly. Both girls looked a little shocked but their pouts became smiles when Draco said suavely.  
"How very rude of me, I've left you sitting without drinks, what can I get you?"

The girls gave their orders, and after asking Blaise and Chloe if they wanted anything, Malfoy retreated to the relative safety of the beautiful varnished mahogany bar (where he was hidden from his dates by a well placed pillar). He pulled himself onto one of the dark wooden bar stools and decided to order an extra firewhisky to help him relax (maybe they wouldn't seem so awful if he was drunk?).

Just as he'd ordered the drinks, the door creaked open and the sunshine poured in, half blinding those sitting inside the dim, candle-lit inn.  
Draco could just make out a female looking figure silhouetted against the light; as the person moved forward slightly, their hair caught the light and it seemed as though a halo had formed around their fiery locks... Definitely a woman; a fit one too from the looks of things, although he still couldn't quite see them clearly from where he was.

"What is _she_ doing here?" one of his dates shrieked. The fact that the person had red hair suddenly sunk in and Malfoy realised that the vision which had just closed the door was none other than Ginny Weasley. Draco wondered if his day could get any worse, at least no one had seen him staring at her. Although scanning the room, he noticed that a few other people were taking their fill of the view provided by the curvaceous red head.

Much as he hated to admit it, she looked pretty damned good... Draco didn't have a clue what the picture on her T-shirt meant, he just saw that it was moulded to her body perfectly and was so thin he could see her bra underneath – well, the pattern on it anyway – it was tiny blue stars and red polka-dots. Instead of looking slutty, it fitted with the top really well, almost as if it were a faded design on the shirt itself.

Weasley had obviously heard what Melissa or Jennifer had said and automatically reached for her pocket (could the girl not afford even one new pair of jeans?), probably going for her wand... Draco noticed that she came up empty handed; she then reached her hand up to her hair and paused. Weasley lowered the hand slowly and then smiled as she saw that Chloe had left her seat to come and greet her, the two exchanged a few quiet words and then hugged as if they'd known each other for years.

As the embrace finished, the Weaslette turned towards the bar and their eyes caught. Draco couldn't figure out why the girl looked so on edge, it wasn't as if anyone would do anything to her in the middle of the pub... Chloe pushed her to the bar and then returned to Blaise who was looking awkward left alone with the two Slytherin Sixth year girls.

Weasley stood stiffly next to him and pulled a small money pouch out of her voluminous cardigan pocket which she tugged roughly around her; even though it fell open again seconds later. Malfoy realised that she was going to order a drink and for some unknown reason felt like being gentlemanly. "What's your poison Weasley? This one's on me."

The she-weasel looked up at him with mistrust in her eyes. "I _can _afford my own drink you know Malfoy."

"I'm buying a round. Don't take everything so personally, for Merlin's sake."

"Oh... I well; I was going to have... I'll just have a pumpkin juice." She looked so unsure of how to act in the situation and she seemed small and vulnerable. Despite past experiences telling him that she was anything but defenceless, Malfoy felt a little manly protectiveness blossoming inside him.

"Have whatever you want Ginny." Well, she'd asked him to call her Ginny last time they spoke hadn't she?

Looking slightly shell shocked, Ginny stared at him for a long moment but finally said, "Fine – if you insist, I wanted a butterbeer and I was going to have a quick firewhisky at the bar... it's been one of those days."

"Huh." Malfoy muttered, thinking exactly the same thing.

"You too?" Ginny asked, looking _ever so slightly_ sympathetic.

Draco nodded "Possibly worse..." He caught Madam Rosmerta's eye and ordered another butterbeer and a firewhisky. Rosmerta looked at them for a moment, Draco thought she might ask the Weaslette's age but Rosmerta obviously decided to let it drop, something she often did if the kid looked ok. After all, Draco knew that she'd been drinking in this very same pub for years before her own seventeenth birthday. (His grandfather had taken quite a fancy to her before he found out how young she had been.)

When the drinks arrived and the bill was settled ("Put it on my tab please Genie."), the two downed their firewhiskies wordlessly (Weasley only winced the tiniest bit) and then Ginny helped Malfoy carry the drinks back to the table. There seemed to be, for the moment at least, a slight truce between the two.

When they reached the table, Blaise stood up and beckoned Ginny to sit on the bench with him and Chloe; she gratefully slid in and greeted him warmly. It didn't take long for Draco to notice the frosty looks Melissa and Jennifer were giving her, however she was making small talk with Chloe and Zabini and hadn't noticed yet.

Draco sat back down between the two girls and Melissa immediately asked him what on earth the piece of trash was doing sitting at their table. Draco explained quietly that she was friends with Chloe (he didn't say out loud, but he thought Melissa had a cheek calling Ginny trash – she may have been exceptionally poor but she certainly wasn't cheap.) and that they'd just have to put up with her for an hour or so.

Neither of his dates seemed to take that particularly well. "What _is_ that weird picture on your top?" Jenni demanded of Ginny with a sneer on her face.

Despite being interrupted mid-sentence, Ginny very politely answered. "I'm not sure – my friend's parents gave it to me as a present." Jenni tutted and looked ready to say something else equally as rude but was interrupted.

"It's Eeyore..." Blaise shrugged when the table turned to stare at him. "My second father was related to the Disney's – they run theme parks and make animated films based on muggle fairy tales and other books. Eeyore, despite being a miserable bugger, is a very popular character from a few of their featurettes..."

He stopped before explaining about Winnie the Pooh, from the shocked look on everyone's faces Zabini thought he may have gone too far already. He didn't know why the Disney stuff had seemed so enjoyable to him, it seemed silly to enjoy something marketed for a muggle's view of magic when you wielded the real deal, but something about the whole idea had pleased the young Zabini. Perhaps because no matter how tough the hero or heroine had it, there was always a happy ending for them.  
His third father had been very disapproving and had destroyed all of young Blaise's toys, books and clothes with one wave of his wand. His mother had comforted Blaise and replaced all of the items she could find. (The husband in question had suffered a very nasty heart attack just two days after the incident.)

"Anyway, let's look at the food, shall we?" Draco said loudly, handing round the menus and distracting everyone. Blaise shot him a thankful look and they all started reading. Draco told Mel and Jenni that they could order anything they wanted; he heard Blaise say the same to Chloe.

Draco wondered for a moment if Ginny would feel bad not having someone to pay for her, but he certainly wasn't going to incur the wrath of his two dates and he doubted Blaise would think to offer, in fact Draco wasn't sure why the thought had entered _his_ head... He decided in the end to leave things be, Weasley had invited herself here after all.

When the young waiter came to take their orders, Melissa chose the food for both herself and Jenni, which Draco thought was a little odd – he didn't think Jennifer seemed the shy type that needed someone else to talk for her. Ginny was last and ordered a small portion of pumpkin chips and a side salad. The waiter (who, from the look on his face, wanted to spend a little more time at the table with so many girls) recommended the house special, but Ginny - although agreeing it sounded delicious - declined.

"Can't you afford it?" Melissa said loudly, trying to embarrass Ginny. A flush ran across Weasley's face and her lips pursed slightly but she said nothing.

"Maybe she's trying to lose a bit of weight – looks like she needs to." Jennifer joined in, even though Draco thought that Ginny looked fit and healthy compared to the two emaciated girls on his side of the table.

He clenched his jaw but said nothing on the matter; instead he excused himself and went to use the bathroom. On his way back, Draco caught the waiter and handed him two galleons, instructing him to bring the red haired girl the special and say it was on the house ("Oh, and keep the change."). The boy looked confused but agreed to bring the food and not to mention that Mr Malfoy had told him to do so.

When he returned to the table, the atmosphere was no better than it had been before. The two younger girls were giving Ginny nasty looks which she was pointedly ignoring and Blaise and Chloe were trying to talk peacefully with everyone (rather unsuccessfully).

When they saw Draco, Jenni piped up. "Ooh, we though you might have left us, you know - to escape the awful company." Little did she know that he _had_ considered it, but not to escape the same person she had meant.

"Of course I hadn't left. I would never dream of being so rude. We wouldn't want people to think that Slytherins have no manners now would we." He wondered if she would understand that he thought she was going too far with her comments, but considering her apparent lack of brain cells he doubted it.

Eventually their food arrived; when the waiter put the plate down in front of Ginny, she turned to him saying that he'd given her the wrong food. When he insisted that her meal had 'been upgraded' she murmured quietly to him. "I don't have the money to cover this…"

"It's on the house. You did want it, didn't you?" He said, flicking his eyes nervously towards Draco. When Ginny said that it looked lovely he quickly made his escape.

Melissa looked outraged and whined, "How come _she_ gets something free. That's not fair – I want my food for free. Draco, make him come back…"

"Your food _is_ free Melissa – I'm paying for it." Draco reminded her stonily.

"Oh… yeah, well it's not fair that you should have to pay when she doesn't." She jabbed angrily towards Ginny with her knife.

"It's fine, really. Please drop it and enjoy your food. Would you like me to pass Jennifer her plate?" Jennifer's plate had for some reason been left next to Mel's rather than at her own setting.

"Oh, I can't eat that!" Jennifer said with a giggle. When Draco asked her (with forced patience) why she had ordered it if she didn't want it, she informed him that she hadn't – it was all for Mel.

Draco gave up in confusion and just started on his own excellent meal. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying their food too; Jennifer produced a bag of celery sticks from her bag and nibbled on one incredibly slowly. Melanie was wolfing down her two meals and in fact finished a minute or two before the others.

When they had all finished, Draco asked if anyone needed another drink, but his two dates declined saying that they were off to 'powder their noses'. As they stood, Jenni 'accidentally' knocked her barely touched drink all over Ginny.

"Oops." The two girls sped off quickly tittering behind their hands. Ginny rolled here eyes and told Malfoy to calm down. He _was_ livid, which was strange… The dirty trick was something he'd seen done many times before but it had never bothered him quite so much. Perhaps this time it was because Weasley hadn't done anything to provoke the girls, she hadn't even reacted to their rude comments. In fact she'd been a much better companion than either of them and actually made normal conversation.

Ginny quickly pulled something from her hair, Draco realised it was her wand, that's why she had touched her hair at the door earlier. In doing so she let that vibrant crimson mane down and it really suited her, Merlin only knew why she insisted on wearing it up the whole time. She cleaned herself up quickly (being a normal teenage boy, Malfoy had been quite enjoying her 'wet t-shirt' look) and put her wand in one of her pockets with a slightly defensive look ("just in case…").

"Why do girls always use the loo in pairs?" Blaise mused, trying to change the subject.

Ginny spoke up properly for the first time, she'd been so quiet around Jennifer and Melissa, she'd been so quiet around Jennifer and Melissa. "Normally it's so we can have a quick chat, you know talk about any dishy men… or stupid women. Also it's nice to have someone with you to make sure you don't walk out with loo-roll stuck on your shoes or your skirt tucked in your knickers.  
On this occasion however I would imagine it's so _Jenni_ can hold back _Mel_'s hair." When she said the girls nick-names, it was in a perfect imitation of their voices which made Draco chuckle.

"You mean she's in there…?"

"Yup."

"Poor girl." Chloe said. "And Jennifer barely ate... No wonder they're so skinny – do you think they have a stomach problem?"

The other three at the table looked at Chloe. Blaise whispered in her ear for a moment and she seemed surprised. "On purpose?" she said, to which Zabini nodded.

Any further discussion of the subject was brought to a halt by the door banging loudly open.

"Shit" Ginny whispered and then threw herself under the table, for a brief moment putting her head in very close proximity to Draco's groin.

He turned to see who had caused such a violent reaction and saw Scarhead, the mudblood and the Weasel King. Groaning, Draco wished that he'd been able to hide from them too – his day had been bad enough already without a confrontation with those idiots. He'd just keep quiet and with any luck t-

"Chloe! Are you alright?"

What did Potter think they were doing to the girl? From the sound of his voice you'd think she was shackled to the wall being tortured or something. Mind you, Middleton did look pretty shocked, presumable due to the female Weasley flinging herself to the floor… Well, not entirely to the floor, and if she didn't move soon Draco was going to be in a rather awkward predicament.

Why had she thrown herself under there? Presumably it was because she was ashamed to be sitting with Slytherins. Draco felt a little put out by that thought. Chloe was still sitting with them, and neither he nor Blaise was cowering under the table. He had a good mind to ask her loudly what on earth she thought she was doing… although maybe he'd just let her be for a moment longer.

As the trio arrived, Ginny burrowed her way under his legs and curled herself up as small as possible. She would be well hidden there, the backs of the benches were solid wood and anyone standing by the table wouldn't be able to see under it without crouching. Normal people didn't tend to do that sort of thing without a good reason.

"Chloe?" Brought out of her shocked state, Chloe attempted a smile at Potter.

"Hi Harry…"

"I said are you OK?"

"Of course… why wouldn't I be?" she asked him, her face changing quickly from surprised to defensive.

The boy wonder stammered for a moment before his idiot sidekick stepped in. "Because you're with these two… _Slytherins_." Weasley spat out the last word as if it were the worst insult he could think of.

Chloe very calmly said. "Yes of course I am… I invited Blaise to show me round Hogsmeade and we arranged to meet Draco and… and his friends for lunch."

Both the Gryffindor boys opened and closed their mouths a few times and muttered random words... "Invited?" "You…" "Wha…" They looked exceedingly foolish and Draco loved every second of it.

Rather disappointingly, Granger took both boys by their elbows and directed them to the bar. "Get yourself a quick drink, Butterbeer only Ronald. I'll sort this out."  
She came back to the table with a wry smile on her face.

"Sorry Chloe, there's a bit of history between Malfoy and us – but you shouldn't have to be stuck in the middle of that, I'm sure you're more than capable of choosing your companions wisely – perhaps you may even be a good influence on them."

Draco raised his eyebrows at her statement but Granger merely tucked away a stray strand of her unruly hair and continued.  
"Anyway, I'll get Ron and Harry out of your hair, but I need you to do me a favour. Could you pass a message on to Ginny please?"

Chloe paled slightly. "She's not here Hermione."

The bundle under Draco's legs shook very slightly in the pause that followed Chloe's lie.  
Finally Granger said, "Well… Maria told me that she is going to be detained this afternoon, so she won't be able to meet with Ginny later. If you do happen to see Ginny, could you let her know?"

Chloe nodded mutely and the Bookworm, after another quick look at them all, walked away. She was just about to drag the two boys from the bar when Jennifer and Melissa returned from the toilets. Potter's eyes practically popped out of their sockets as he took in their apparel.

Draco could see the overly made-up eyes of both girls scanning the table and staring at the empty space where Ginny had been. Jenni opened her mouth to say something and Draco just knew that (given how the day was going) it was going to be something along the lines of "Thank goodness that awful Gryff girl has gone."

For a split second Draco considered using the Langlock spell on them both, but yet again Granger saved the day and interrupted loudly.

"Close your mouth Harry before you drown us all in drool. Honestly!" This caused both girls to look over to the bar, Melissa gave him a look of pure disgust but Draco thought he saw Jenni's eyes widen slightly before she too scowled at him (as all good Slytherins should when presented with one of the trio.)  
Potty blushed a little, Weaselbee chortled at him and Granger towed them both away (she needed a little extra force for Potter.) She paused at the door for a split second and Draco could have sworn her eyes went straight to the part of the bench that Ginny was cowering behind. She looked up, caught his eye and winked before closing the door… the bint actually winked at him.

He didn't get long to think about it because as soon as the door closed, Ginny crawled (rather clumsily) from under his legs and over the bench, all the while giggling her head off. In fact, she was laughing so hard that she got stuck half way and Draco had a glorious view of her wonderfully peachy arse. There was a rip just under her left pocket and he could see that her pants had the same pattern as her bra.

Unfortunately his ogle was cut short by a shriek from Melissa. "What has she been doing under that table? Have you been laying your filthy, blood traitor hands on my man?"

Ginny, who had now made it over the bench and was sprawled on the floor, took one look at Melissa and laughed even harder.

"Are you laughing at me?" Despite Ginny shaking her head, Melissa hissed, "Draco, she's laughing at me, make her stop."  
Before he could respond, Jennifer decided to take matters in to her own hands. She pulled out her wand and leaped towards Weasley, wailing some undecipherable words.

The next few seconds were a blur of movement and sound, but all of a sudden, Jenni was hanging upside down from the ceiling and Ginny had two wands in her hand. She wasn't laughing any more.  
Looking at Melissa, who also had her wand drawn, Ginny said. "I didn't want any trouble. If you're going to start a fight then I have to warn you I _will _kick your arse."

Melissa looked from her to Draco, who shook his head slightly. She put her wand down and shrugged nonchalantly at Ginny who nodded back and said, "Right. I'm going to leave now…."

Ginny slowly lowered Jenni back to the floor, and with apologies to Rosmerta, Blaise and Chloe, she marched out of the Inn.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Have any of you seen a picture of an Angora rabbit? I looked it up on Wikipedia (English version) and the picture is hilarious – it made me think of a puffskein!  
Very amusing, this is why I decided Draco's cloak is made of it ;)**

**I couldn't find Rosmerta's first name anywhere so I made one up! Feel free to correct me if it's wrong!**

**Not sure if it's a UK thing or not, but a 'granddad' shirt is the same as a band-collared shirt.  
I happen to think they look rather lovely on blokes so just go with me here…  
(Plus I wanted Draco to have casual-ish clothes but look sharp still!)**

**On a more serious note, I hope I haven't offended anyone with Melissa and Jennifer's behaviour. I know weight issues are not a joking matter but the scene was stuck in my head and wouldn't go away...  
(I understand some people are naturally slim – lucky beggers - but I think it's a shame that so many young girls feel the need to be **_**super**_**-skinny when it's not their natural shape.)  
Anyway, if anyone takes real offence I can always alter the chapter, but I do plan on redeeming them slightly later on... **


	7. Changing attitudes

**Hello again and Happy Halloween!**

**Thanks to babiiee-z, MilasDrac and Lost Enchanter (sorry to hear you're having a bad day.. have another chapter to cheer you up some more!) for your reviews and especially to jmarceljm as I can't reply back to you to thank you personally for your detailed comments.  
All your messages were helpful and gave me big grins!**

**Hopefully you won't be disappointed with this chapter. It originally was the last third of the previous one so I've had to bulk it out a bit with descriptions and thoughts/feelings (I doubled the first three paragraphs by doing just that)  
Fingers crossed I still have a plot left in this chapter and haven't repeated Draco's thoughts on Ginny too much!**

_._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._

After the heavy door had fallen closed behind Ginny, Draco turned back to the table and the people still seated there. Melissa was sullen and Jennifer looked ready to burst into tears, he hated a girl crying, really hated it… Malfoy understood the reason_ why_ they did it (most of the time anyway, sometimes they seemed to bawl for no reason.) but he never knew how to deal with them, and if there was something else he hated, it was not knowing the solution to a problem…

However on this occasion a subtle cheering charm seemed to clear up this particular teary lady – Draco gave Melissa a quick boost too, just for the hell of it. He couldn't face the inevitable conversation where they both expected him to agree how awful the Weaslette was and plot revenge against her.  
Ok, it wasn't as if he liked the read-headed little Gryff or anything, but you know… she wasn't as annoying as that brother of hers and certainly wasn't as goody-two shoes as some of her house mates. He didn't feel that any revenge was necessary, in any case, Draco had a sneaking suspicion that they would lose and (while he felt that in a one-on-one battle he'd be able to hold his own with most people) he didn't want to be on the receiving end of the whole Weasley clan and friends.

Draco was still hacked off that Ginny had hidden from the trio of stupidity though, he felt slighted in some way - if he was good enough to sit and eat with in front of all those patrons at the inn, then why wasn't he good enough for her when Scarhead walked in? He was better than that suck-up, snitch stealing, four eyed loser. Malfoy felt the need to let her know how much she'd pissed him off (not that you could tell from looking at him); people should be _proud_ to be at the same table as him…

Although he remembered that she _had_ felt pretty good wriggling around _under_ the table, pressed up against his legs... and other things (if the little Weasley had been that revolted by him then she could have hidden behind Chloe). So that redeemed her somewhat… but he wasn't going to be getting any from her (imagine, a Malfoy and a Weasley – how ridiculous, even if they would look stunning together.), so in a way it was just a huge tease. That made him even more frustrated.

While he had been pondering the situation, both the Slytherin girls had mellowed and were now all smiles. The rest of the pub had also settled down without any further entertainment, going back to their meals and drinks and chatting quietly. Even Mme Rosmerta had gone back to polishing glasses and laughing quietly with a rather distinguished looking gentleman seated at the bar.  
Blaise seemed rather amused by the whole event and had been smirking at Draco, but now he was reassuring Chloe that her friend would be fine and there was no need to search the whole of Hogsmeade for her. ("I think she's more than capable of handling herself, as we just witnessed.")

Jennifer, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat, managed to concentrate for just long enough to ask 'Dwakko' of they were going to see the Shrieking Shack since lunch appeared to be over.  
Zabini obviously saw the look of pure terror in Malfoy's eyes as he stepped in smoothly. "Ladies, I am _so_ sorry… Draco, I forgot to inform you, but I urgently need your help this afternoon – something which required your potions skills…"

Draco managed to look a little upset, a difficult task, but he was a master of facial control. "But Blaise, I was supposed to escort the ladies to a few more places today, can whatever you need not wait?"

Playing his part well, Blaise shook his head. "I'm sorry but no, it's has to be prepared today as the moon is gibbous tonight. Any later and the whole thing will be ruined. You could bring the ladies along but it will be very messy and smelly and take up all of your concentration."

Middleton looked between the two of them and crossed her arms angrily. She frowned at Zabini who somehow managed to look apologetic and embarrassed at the same time. Then she turned her icy glare on to Malfoy, he knew by the look in her eyes that she had figured out that this was all a ploy to help him escape.  
"Draco, are you not even going to see these your dates back to the school gates? I understand that Blaise is your best friend but you invited these two and you should at least make sure they are safe and sound before helping him out."

Merlin, how had this woman managed to make him feel so guilty? As with Ginny, he wasn't gaining anything from her (The smarter members of his house tended to judge whether or not to do something based on what they could gain)– and he didn't want to either. But surely she should be nagging Blaise and not him…  
And since when did she feel that the two demented women that attacked her friend needed a bodyguard anyway?

A sudden thought struck him then. With a relieved smile, Draco looked offended and said . "What type of man do you take me for Chloe? Blaise, I'll meet you back at school – I'll just re-arrange this afternoon's plan for my dates." He leaned over the table and spoke quietly to Zabini and Chloe, thanking them for helping him get rid of Jennifer and Melissa and telling them that he hoped they enjoyed the rest of the day.

The cheering charm seemed to be wearing off Jennifer and Melissa already and they were looking slightly confused (he hadn't put his heart into the spell – not really wanting to cheer the two girls up, just to shut them up), so Draco acted quickly. Grabbing a hand from each of them, he strode towards the exit, throwing an apologetic glance towards Rosmerta. He'd never felt the need to say sorry for other people's behaviour before – either these two were so completely atrocious that he had to apologise for them, or the Gryffindork's politeness was rubbing off on him. He wasn't sure which was worse.  
Sweeping his cloak off the peg, he threw it across his shoulders and wrenched open the heavy oak door.

Blinking slightly in the sunshine, Draco dragged the girls across and down the cobbled street (a difficult task with the footwear his dates had chosen) until they reached Honeydukes sweet shop. The store's outside was simply amazing – whoever had designed the shop had obviously heard the rumours about the gingerbread cottage and decided to upscale the idea somewhat (Malfoy remembered that one of the Durmstrang students over for the Tri-wizard tournament had sworn that he had seen the original).

The whole building was modelled out of giant versions of their top selling products (non-edible ones now; the first build used real products but that resulted in the Hogwarts students attempting to eat the building, meaning a lot of maintenance work and a big loss of sales – why buy the products when you can eat the shop for free?).  
There were enormous liquorice wands instead of wooden beams and windowsills made from colossal sugar quills; the multicoloured pebbledash walls were in fact Bertie Bott's every flavour beans and massive chocolate slabs replaced the normal slates tiles on the roof.  
Standing on the small step in front of the shop (which was levitating slightly as it was meant to look like a fizzing whizbee), Malfoy opened the stained glass door (very, very thin coloured lollypops) and ushered the girls inside. He instantly spotted the person he was looking for, gazing longingly at the toffee section – none other than Vincent Crabbe, one of Draco's oldest friends. Standing near to him was Malfoy's other one time best mate Gregory Goyle.

Vincent had grown into a reasonably attractive young man; tall, dark and hugely muscled (his extremely fashionable and svelte mother had sent him some weights and the best selling 'Guilderoy Lockhart' workout book in the hopes that he would attract a girlfriend if he were slightly less rotund).  
With the weight gone from his face, he turned out to be not to shabby looking either. He was still rather dim witted but was friendly enough and always willing to try and help out a fellow Slytherin where he could.

Gregory however was another matter; he looks were as hideous as his personality. He wasn't very intelligent (to say the least) but he was sneaky and had a nose for trouble – had Draco known him, he would have been reminded very much of a nastier version of Dudley Dursley, Harry's cousin.  
Goyle's lack of brainpower irritated the boy greatly and in the last couple of years he had turned bitter and vindictive towards anyone smarter than him (which was, as far as Malfoy knew, everyone – even Mrs Norris could have beaten him paws down in an IQ test.) Draco, being one of the cleverer students, had been quite pleased to escape him when Blaise had offered the move to head boy's room.

Malfoy owed Crabbe a few favours – he hadn't been the best of bodyguards when they had been younger, but it hadn't been through lack of trying… Draco felt good about what he was going to for Vincent – although it _was_ benefiting him too… but he didn't have to say anything about that to Crabbe.

"Crabbe." The person in question turned, unfortunately as did Goyle. Draco caught Vincent's eye and gave him a winning smile. "I'm at a bit of a loose end and I was wondering if you could do me a favour?" Crabbe shrugged then nodded his head, in the background Gregory scowled darkly at them both.

Ignoring the face pulling, Malfoy reached behind him, put a hand in the small of each girls back and pushed them forward slightly, "Would you mind ever so much taking care of these two lovely ladies for the rest of the day?"

Crabbe's eyes lit up with glee, however he seemed slightly dubious. Draco thought he knew what was causing the worried look, so he leant in close and murmured, "Mate, all your Christmases have come at one – these two aren't quite my style so I'm not planning on pursuing either of them. However they are very popular girls and I thought they'd be perfect with you, so feel free to work your charm on them."

He pressed several galleons in Vincent's large hands and told him that it was a huge favour he had done. Then he assured the two girls that Crabbe would show them the best Saturday in Hogsmeade, and told them to have a wonderful day. Melissa was eyeing up Vincent's bulging arm muscles already, Jennifer just looked dumbstruck, but neither objected to the plan, which Draco had been scared they might.

Just as he was making his escape, Goyle spoke up. "Where'd you wan' us to take 'em?" He rumbled.

Draco hadn't planned on Gregory joining them – he wouldn't want to inflict that on anyo-  
Actually, it was possible that Jennifer (perhaps Melissa too) was dimmer than Goyle, and if not then they deserved any hassle they got from him for being such annoying, spiteful wenches all day. And Crabbe was used to the great oaf; despite being slightly smarter, Vincent was a very quiet person and the two had managed to stay good friends regardless of Gregory's attitude issues.

"Where ever you want old friend. Have fun all four of you."  
Draco left the store quickly before anyone could find a reason to object and strode down the pavement. He felt good for the first time since he'd started out for Hogsmeade.

He figured that Blaise had the sense to whisk Chloe off somewhere pretty special to make up for lunch, so Malfoy thought that he would just head back to the school, pop to the library and read some more of that story Middleton had shown him. He knew the _general_ story as she'd explained it to him, but it was well written so he thought he would read it through properly; after all - he had nothing better to do.

The wind had picked up and was tousling his fair hair roughly. Pulling his cloak a little tighter around him, Draco noticed that there weren't very many people outside; presumably they were all sensibly inside the shops, pubs and restaurants which offered sanctuary from the weather. As he neared the end of the high street he passed the last few buildings and noticed that one of the windows was lit and packed full - it had been boarded up when he'd been here last (along with a few of the other shops). Wondering if it may be a new Christmas shop, he wandered closer – thinking he could get his mother something nice perhaps.

However when Draco peered in the window, he couldn't see any signs to indicate what the shop was selling and the products were all still packed in boxes marked with nothing more than a small stamp saying W.W.W.  
Just as he was about to turn away and head home, Malfoy noticed that the shop door was slightly ajar. He shook his head at the foolishness of the proprietor but as he did so there came a noise from inside.

Listening closely, he heard a muffled "Incendio." and a little crashing sound.  
Intrigued, Draco gently pushed the door open a little further and pressed his head close to the gap.

"Stupid bloody tarts couldn't have stayed in the bathroom for one minute more…. Expulso." There was a loud explosive noise, Draco could smell smoke and there was dust in the air.

"Merlin knows why they think their perfect smelling man would let me lay my 'filthy blood traitor hands' on his sodding body anyway… Reducto. The thought would probably make him gag. _Oh I may have to destroy my clothes_." The last line was delivered in a tone almost exactly like his own (albeit a female version).

Draco smirked and pushed open the door; Ginny (as he had guessed it would be) had her back to him and by the look of things, had spent her time since leaving the Three Broomsticks demolishing a pile of wooden crates. There was still a line of orange fire slowly fading into the ashes of one of them.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Weasley" he said loudly, causing Ginny to turn abruptly and point her wand at his throat. The look of fury died slightly when she recognised it was Malfoy standing in the doorway. He must remember not to sneak up on angry girls who have their wands drawn; what if she'd fired off a spell by accident… it could have ruined his face.

"What were you on about?" she questioned after a pause.

"I said 'don't be so hard on yourself' – you had your hands all over my 'sodding body' just a while back and there was no gagging coming from me… "

Ginny pushed a mass of her rust coloured hair away from her flushed face. She looked confused and wary at the same time. "Was I ranting when you came in?"

"Somewhat, yes." Malfoy leant nonchalantly against the door frame and watched Weasley's face change emotions.

"Right." She said finally, seeming a little calmer now. "I tend to lose it a little when I do that… and this was a bad one. No idea what I said really. Not at all… Was I rude about you?"

Draco wasn't sure that he entirely believed her so he decided to call her bluff. "No – you were quite complimentary about my scent actually…"

Ginny turned even redder than before and said quite defensively. "Well so what. You smell good, big deal. I just never noticed before."

"Probably because you've never flung yourself bodily on to me before. I have, in fact, always smelled this good." My gods, was he actually flirting with her? His groin must have taken over control of the rest his body, because chatting up a Weasley could never be something his brain would condone…

He swore that her eyes flickered down his body briefly before she looked away, face burning as vividly as her hair. "I guess you'll need to burn those trousers now huh?" she refused to meet his eye.

Mildly annoyed, Draco said forcefully. "I told you, I'm not that childish anymore… I've grown up and matured – realised there are more important things in life… No, I'll give them to a charity instead."

Ginny's eyes whipped up but she obviously noticed the mocking tone of his voice as she was laughing. Thank Circe she had a sense of humour – although Lord only knows where in the family that came from. Looking at him with huge, bright brown eyes, Ginny said.

"You're lucky I can tell you were joking or I may have hexed you…" She waved her wand a little and made a fake explosion noise. Draco, playing along, grabbed at his stomach as if gravely wounded.

Weasley grinned broadly at him but turned serious all of a sudden. "Did I ruin your date? I'm sorry about today, it was kind of rude of me to show her up like that when I could have just taken her wand… but it's just instinct you see, I mean, I doubt she would have done anything that bad in a crowded pub, but I see a wand and I defend myself against the worst." Ginny looked angry again, so Draco held his empty hands up in a mock show.

"No wand here… Look, if you must know, you probably did me a favour – they really were terrible company…"

"Really? I mean _I_ think they're bloody horrific, and… despite my _extreme_ dislike for you," Ginny cheekily poked her tongue out at him after that comment. "I kind of thought you had reasonable taste in 'accessories'. So you can just imagine my shock when I saw you, but at least you did realise how garish they were!"

Draco scowled at her – if his upbringing hadn't been so strict he may have poked his tongue out too. However he instead chose to change the subject and asked why she was standing in a half empty shop blowing boxes to smithereens.  
Ginny explained that two of her brothers (how many were there?) were opening a joke shop – their second in fact. They had been hoping to get the old Zonko's plot of land but someone had already bought it up. She had been angry after the confrontation in the pub and decided to come and destroy some of the old packing boxes; it would help her and her brothers at the same time.

"Plus, it beats sitting down and crying – if I did that every time something went wrong I'd have very puffy eyes. As the only girl in a family of boys, you soon learn that crying doesn't get you very far – well not after the first few times anyway!"

"Why did you hide?" Draco asked her suddenly, feeling that he had to find out that very instant or he might not be able to talk to her any more.

"In here, well I had a spare key and-"

"No." He cut her off sharply. "Why did you hide under the table? From the… From Potter and Co; is it because you didn't want to be seen with us?"

Ginny looked confused for a moment - she stared hard at Malfoy and he felt as if he were the one being interrogated instead of having asked the question. He shut off his mind as completely as possible and put his cold mask on.  
She blinked slightly, almost as if she had tried to walk through a doorway and come across an invisible barrier.

"Yes – But not for the reason you think. Shit! I don't know – I _should_ be ashamed to be sitting with you, we've never got along before, so why do I feel like I owe you an explanation…" She stopped and drew her small delicate fingers across her mouth, pinching her bottom lip and tugging it gently. Draco remained stonily silent, wondering why he'd expected anything more from a Slytherin hating Gryffindor.

She sighed then. "Look, the truth of the matter is that if Ron had seen me there, well… you think what happened between me and those girls caused a scene? Think again – it wouldn't surprise me if Ron dragged me out the door by my hair and the set the whole building aflame just to keep you away. Ron would jump to the wrong conclusion and wouldn't listen to anything I said. He's over protective at the best of times, but for some reason he hates you more than my dad hates… well – you get the idea."

Ginny shrugged. "Hermione's the only one who can calm him down."  
Draco debated only a moment before saying that he was fairly certain Granger knew Ginny was under the table earlier.

Ginny said an extremely rude word. "Oh what will I do? He's gonna go apeshit, man…"

Draco looked at the crazy girl flapping about and calmly drawled, "You know, you swear far too much for such a pretty young lady."

"Well that's all Ron's bloody fault too… ha-ha by the way –pretty young lady my arse – very funny. Quite the comedian."

So, she couldn't take a compliment… did she really not realise how cute she looked when she was worrying on her bottom lip. Although she was probably confused why he, Draco Malfoy, was complimenting her, Ginevra Weasley…  
A week ago he would have just ignored her; a year or two ago he probably would have told her she was an ugly, penniless, pathetic failure of a person – a waste of life… Gods he'd been an arse sometimes (although the Weasel King usually deserved such comments, after all – he mocked Draco all the time. If he couldn't take it then he shouldn't give it.)

"Don't panic. Granger… winked at me."

Ginny stopped at ogled at him. "Hermione did what?"

"Yes, that was pretty much my reaction too, I would imagine she's not going to say anything or she would have already done so. She's… smart isn't she."

Weasley, all panic gone, gave him a sly look. "Wow Malfoy, did that admission hurt? Yeah, 'Mione's super smart. She loves studying and reading and generally doing well." Ginny laughed and recalled how Hermione's boggart was always a teacher saying she'd failed all her exams. "She gets totally freaked, bless her!"

Draco stored that useful nugget of information away in the back of his mind. Ginny seemed to have no qualms about letting out her friend's secrets. Gryffindors always were too trusting, too quick to speak without engaging their brains. Strange that she should be that way with him though, Slytherins were normally the exception to the rule when it came to trust. Even Professor Snape, who Draco knew had saved Potter's life, was treated like a criminal by them.

"Anyway," Ginny was saying. "I'd best be off – Maz, that's Maria… One of my friends… Anyway, she's totally let me down, again, and I've got loads to do now, it'll probably take me through dinner too. Thanks for not being a total dick like normal – you're kind of bearable I suppose!" She smirked in a very Slytherin way and shoved him not unkindly out of the door.

As she was locking up, Draco couldn't help but think how open she was being with him, and how easy it was to spend time in her company. He thought that had she been sorted into his house (and not a Weasley of course – both things would presumably come hand in hand, as a Weasley in Slytherin was preposterous), she would have come up with some good ideas for their late night pranks…

Quite impulsively his mouth opened and he found himself saying, "Can I help at all?" Curse that groin of his…

_._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._

**I know the idea of Lockhart having a workout book is laughable, which is why I thought I'd use him. I figured that by now he'd have some of his memory back and the desire to write again and be famous was still burning brightly. **

**All his other books were made up from stuff he'd stolen from others and claimed as his own, so why not claim he was a body-builder too!**

**I mean half the work-out videos with 'stars' (z-listers still count as stars!!) are actually choreographed by their trainer anyway!**


End file.
